Inspiration and Illumination via Instagram

All the elements assembled for shooting

Instagram is great! Since I started using it, I've been doing tons better at documenting my processes and experiments. It's so much easier just to use my phone to Instagram small set-ups and examples rather than to have to get lights set up, pull out the DSLR, deal with Camera RAW files and all the other mess that comes from a "proper" shoot.

The difference in results isn't that dramatic, either. Not to say there isn't one, but for my primary purposes (this blog), I don't need huge, high-res images of my process. Now, if I ever get around to assembling that Anthotype book I keep talking about (you know the one, Spiders...) then I will have to do process documentation shooting with a real camera. Ditto for the Lumen Folio. For now, though, Instagram is where it's at. Spiders, did you know you can even get people interested in your work via Instagram?

Shoot in progress!

My Instagram hero is Joshua White, a professor up at App State in Boone. His entire current body of work, A Photographic Survey of the American Yard, was created on Instagram and is displayed on his account. With simple rules, minimal equipment and a straight-forward procedure, he creates gorgeous pieces of work. On Instagram. With an iPhone. So that's awesome. So far he's been featured by Instagram itself, in articles on Wired.com, Mother Nature Network, Fstoppers, Gizmodo, FeatureShoot, and probably other places! He's Instagram-famous, and it's really cool.

I actually took inspiration from Joshua when figuring out how to document my Plastron Prints and my Cyanotags (another project that I'll blog about soon!) for viewing. The photos here today are showing how that documentation works. It's really simple, Spiders.

The finished result, via Flickr!

There isn't much you need to do shadowless, floating documentation of small objects.  A shaded, outdoor space to shoot in is the most basic. Then get a piece of cardboard, or foamboard, or a corkboard.. anything pins will go into but not back out of easily. If the board you're using isn't the right color and/or texture, then add a sheet of paper or other covering to make it the right color and/or texture. Then just get yourself 1-3 pins, and some sticky poster-tack or soft wax. Then you can adhere the object onto the pin(s), holding it off the surface of the paper-covered board. That distances the object from the background, reducing any shadows not already removed by using the diffuse light of an outdoor, shaded shooting area.

Your end result should be a very clean image, as shown in Joshua's series and my latest images on Flickr. The images I posted earlier, on Instagram, used the same ideas, but I shot them inside, using desk lamps. That created shadows. So when I wanted larger, clearer images (using a DSLR and a macro lens), I took my set-up outside! The results from outside were much better.

Printing on Plastron Pieces

The best plastron print obtained so far

I've been getting better results from my latest experiments with printing on turtle shell fragments. I'm calling them my "Plastron Prints" even though not all the bits of shell are actually from the plastron. I just happen to like alliterative appellations.

There have been three new prints on larger pieces of shell, all fairly successful. In each case, the chemistry displayed the same odd behavior that I was puzzling over in the last entry. By the time each one was dry, it had turned extremely dark and a blueish-green-yellow far from the ordinary color expected of unexposed chemistry. I went ahead with the printing, despite the discoloration.

The bones don't look like they're exposing properly, but they do come out pretty much spot-on. Directly after the exposure it isn't easy to be sure what the final result will actually be. It takes a peroxide bath and a complete drying cycle before the image is plainly visible, but eventually they look like the one displayed here.

Dandelion plastron print

As a side note, I've found a way to accelerate drying of these bone prints: a toaster oven. I dry my bone prints on a sheet of parchment paper in the toaster oven. I run them at 180° F, in 15 minute cycles. Generally a single cycle is enough to dry the bones, but sometimes I run a second cycle just to be extra sure. There has been a slight issue with the high temperature melting any residue scale left on the bone, but this is actually a bonus for me. I want that stuff gone anyway, and if it melts off, that's fine. It turns into brown goo that I can scrub away with a bit of effort, instead of having to sand it off with a lot of effort.

My last experiment was trying to reclaim some of the earlier pieces that I discarded as ruined by the chemical exposure. Now, having learned what I have from these last three pieces, I actually feel certain I could have exposed those earlier pieces and gotten results. I was just too put off by their odd initial appearance to try. So far, I only have one result from this new experiment, and it isn't quite what I wanted, but it is encouraging. I soaked the discarded fragments from the first run of coating in a strong soda ash solution to bleach away the blue. Once they were completely bleached, I washed them twice and allowed them to soak overnight in clean water to remove any trace of the chemistry. Then, after two drying cycles in the toaster oven, I re-coated the shell fragments in new chemistry.

First re-coated plastron print

The first result is, as I noted, encouraging. It has a distinct image visible, even if the coating of blue is a bit patchy. I'll be doing more of these to see what I can get with better, more even coating.

As always, the entire series of experiments can be viewed on Flickr or Instagram.

Blogging for Thor: Fragmentary Fizzle

Two weeks ago, I was musing about the idea of printing on small bits of bone. I was able to acquire some fragments of turtle shell (and two whole turtle shells!) from Etsy. Since then, I've been experimenting, trying to print onto the shell fragments. It has not been easy.

The biggest problem I've run into is the chemistry turning blue far, far too quickly and without light. Currently, my thinking is that these shell fragments were cleaned with bleach, peroxide or some other chemical that is reacting with the cyanotype material. I first coated 10 fragments of bone, right out of the package they arrived in. I didn't think this would be a problem because I coated the previous bones all without washing or cleaning. There were three successes from that first group of 10.

The successes aren't as high-contrast as I'd like, but they are clear, visible outlines of the small bittercress leaves used to make them. After the first batch of failures, I washed the bones carefully and soaked them in water for a few hours before drying them in sunlight. I coated three more pieces,
but I was a bit too cautious. With only one coat of chemistry, the largest fragment shows a distinct image, but the blue is very weak. The other two from the second round started darkening before exposure, though I believe they may have worked if I hadn't simply forgotten about them and let them sit in bright light for too long. I may be able to use the reverse sides of some of this second round, and even one of the first round.

Today I tried applying a coat of clear acrylic matte sealant to the bone, hoping to provide a surface for the chemistry to adhere to that would not contaminate the chemistry with anything lingering in the bones. Unfortunately, the chemistry slid right off the sealant, even after sanding to roughen the surface. No go on that plan. The reverse side is still sealant-free, so I'm using that for the next experiment.

Now I'm trying to coat the underside of the sealant test piece and carefully monitoring it between coats, allowing each coat to get at least partially dry before applying a new one. So far there is minimal darkening of the coats.

Before any spiders ask, yes, I've tested the chemistry itself. I coated some scrap sheets of mat board and paper, then let them dry in the same conditions as I dried the coated shell fragments. They worked just fine. No darkening, no discoloration. It's specifically something about the shell fragments. Again, this was not a concern with the earlier bones or antlers.

As simple as deer bone and antler was to work with, I'm really surprised how hard these turtle shell fragments have been to print on. I was not expecting these problems, and now trying to track down the exact cause is rather frustrating. The successful pieces (currently 4) are encouraging, though, and I'm going to continue. The only problem is that I only had 20 fragments and so far, I've gone through all but 6. I'm quickly running low on fragments to experiment with.

I'm going to try separating the plastrons from the two complete turtle shells I have and breaking them into smaller pieces. Then I can coat the upper shells for single, large images and use the plastrons, which otherwise would not be visible with the shells hanging on a wall, in another project.

Here's hoping that I'm eventually able to work this out. I still have the goal of turning these tiny bone prints into jewelry. All these problems have made me worry about how well the whole shells are going to work. I only have the two of them and getting them wasn't exactly dirt cheap. Not too terrible, about $10 each, but for someone on my shoestring budget, that's not a willy-nilly purchase.

To view all the successful bone prints, check my Flickr or Instagram!

Blogging for Freya: Back to Where it Began!

In a few hours I'll be driving off to East Carolina University, where I did my undergraduate studies. This year's SPE Southeast convention is there and several of my friends are giving presentations. It'll be a great chance to catch up with some contacts, see what folks are doing, and meet up with people I haven't seen in years. Plus, there will be a portfolio throw-down and a print swap, along with workshops and all kinds of fun.

I'm very excited, and I got so busy packing up that I missed my deadline. I'll post the real article sometime this weekend, probably!

Blogging for Thor: Morbid Midnight Musings

I've been thinking lately, how to combine alternative processes with physical products to create something of artistic interest that is both beautiful and functional? I experimented previously with cyanotype scarves and bags, but that's kind of limited and rather done.

Recently having proven that it's perfectly possible to create lovely images on bone using cyanotype, I just today thought to myself: why not create jewelry out of cyanotype'd bones?

Why not, indeed, spiders. I'll be back next week, hopefully with some progress on this idea! I need a bunch of fairly small, fairly polished bone bits. Off to Etsy!

If any of you lovely spiders have ideas on where to acquire bones at a reasonable price, without getting on some kind of watchlist, please let me know!

Blogging for Forseti: A Massive Meh

I'm really sorry, my lovely spiders. I don't know what's been up with me lately. You probably do, since you have access to all my personal information and internet habits. So you know that specifically this past week and weekend, I've been feeling under the weather. But even before that, things just haven't been amazing artistically. Since the big push for my show, I've been fairly drained.

Since the show went up, I haven't made a single new print, or even coated paper. I'm pretty unhappy about it, so I just need to get up and DO something about it. But it's hard, my spiders. It's very hard to work up the energy, enthusiasm and activity to do something creative. I'm running short right now.

I'm going to explore some ideas, spiders. Maybe some of them will kick me in the pants and get me back to work.

Blogging for Sol: Bloody Late!

Unadjusted turmeric dye, which turns red with low pH!

Hello, Spiders! I'm sorry this post is so late. On Thursday I lost track of time, on Friday I was busy and I was out of town this weekend. I think I've already paid for the lateness; it rained both days I was trying to visit friends and go to the zoo. Thor was displeased with my lack of attention.

On Friday, I was a visiting artist at UNCC again! It was great, for all the same reasons it was great last time. Engaged students who were really interested in what I had to teach them, willing to try it out and even experiment on their own!

I demonstrated anthotypes using red cabbage juice, which turns from violet to teal when the pH is lowered by adding baking soda, washing soda or borax. In this case, we used washing soda. That went over really well, and one student in particular tried experimenting with the other dyes I had brought: turmeric and sandalwood. To my surprise, the turmeric experiment showed very interesting results!

When its pH is lowered, turmeric dye changes from goldenrod yellow to bloody, garnet red! It's truly a lovely color. It fades a bit when applied to paper, but it can be applied in a thick, paste-like form and the paper stains pretty darn well! I assume, though I have not yet tested, that it could also be used to soak the paper and create a strong red in that way. I assume all the normal problems with soaking paper would be present in that case, though.

This new potential color source for a bright red is fascinating and I hope to do some experiments in the coming week, despite the rain and clouds. I'll update this post with photos as soon as I'm able to mix up a batch, coat and image!

Edit: DAGNAMBIT!!! I finished this post juuust before midnight, but the time to insert the image rolled it over and now it's logged as being posted on Monday. Bugger. All hail the Moon!