We had so much fun last weekend running our family cyanotype workshop in collaboration with Southborough Library for Heritage Open Day weekend! We could not have asked for more prefect weather to expose our prints.
The cyanotype process was used by botanist Anna Atkins in the mid 19th century to document different plant specimens such as ferns and algae and as such, secured her place in history as the first female photographer and first person to create a photobook. Atkins grew up in Tonbridge at Ferox Hall with her scientist father, John George Children, at a time when Southborough was still part of the domain of Tonbridge Castle. Some of you may have noticed the blue plaque that commemorates the two on the outside of the building.
The process involves coating paper with a solution of ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide to sensitise it to light. Then depending on the lighting conditions you can expose a print within 5-7 minutes (just as we did yesterday) and then simply rinse in water to develop and fix the print to reveal its beautiful blue appearance. This is where the term 'blueprint' originates from.
Our participants had lots of materials to choose from; flowers, foliage, feathers, beads, letters, lace and even a few negatives of archive postcards and photographs of Southborough to design their creations. It was the perfect activity to tie in with the Heritage Open Day's 2023 theme of 'Creativity Unwrapped', and amazing to think we were using the same process in the same Kent sunshine that Anna Atkins did over 150 years ago!
Thank you to everyone who attended the workshop and for making such wonderful prints. It was inspiring to hear so many of you to continued exploring the process in your own time. Here are some images of our photographers in action and just a snapshot of all the cyanotypes made over the course of the two sessions.
* If you like what we do, want to get involved in future events or wish to support us, please consider joining the Southborough Society. The Society is a registered charity and is run by volunteers. Membership is from just £12 a year and you will receive high quality quarterly newsletters, access to events and be supporting the work we do with archiving and researching our town's rich heritage amongst many other things.