https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/first-attempt-at-cyanotype-plus-a-throw-pillow-tutorial • Posted by Kristen P.
Here is my first attempt at Cyanotype, a process in which you sun-dye fabric blue, with the help of stencils and other objects to make a white image. I also wanted to make a cute little throw pillow because it was a fast and easy project :3 Enjoy!
Here is my first attempt at Cyanotype, a process in which you sun-dye fabric blue, with the help of stencils and other objects to make a white image. I also wanted to make a cute little throw pillow because it was a fast and easy project :3 Enjoy!
First of all, when you get your cyanotype chemicals, read the directions thoroughly. These are harsh chemicals that will injure you. Make sure to wear protective gloves and eye wear to prevent injury. Note that this is a dye, should you get any on your clothing, wash it out immediately to prevent staining. Or wear a smock to protect your clothing from the dye. I did not get pictures of the cyanotype mixing process, so I will leave that out for now.
For the first part of the project, I had to cut out my desired width and length of fabric. My mother-in-law wanted to try it out, too, so she cut out smaller squares. Next, we had to dye our fabric. First, we put on our gloves and eye wear, then we dipped our material into a container with the cyanotype mixture. We had to do this in subdued lighting. The reason for that is because the chemicals are photosensitive, meaning they will start to stain the fabric if they are exposed to any light. The reason the photos are lit up is because we used flash photography to get decent pictures.
Next, after we had wrung out the fabric squares, we hung them up to dry in a dark room. These had to dry over night, so this is the lengthiest part of the whole project.
The next morning, we set out our projects outside in the sun. This is where we goofed up a bit, and our projects didn't turn out the way we wanted, lol. But I plan to revisit this project in the future to correct some things. First, we set our pieces on a slotted table, not thinking it would effect anything, but they didn't take to the negatives my mother-in-law used and all that resulted from the process was a hashing pattern from the table, which I will have an example of in a few steps (I will point it out). Next, we left them out a bit too long in the sun, at least with mine. Also, I used glow-in-the-dark stencils for some design, and that was a bad idea. Use something that is solid, and NOT see through, unless you are using photo-negatives. And, instead of using thin paper, opt for something a bit sturdier so that the sun doesn't bleed through. Learn from my mistakes! This part of the process didn't take long at all. We set these out for about an hour, even though the chemical bottles say only 30 minutes. I wanted mine dark, dark blue, and my mother-in-law wasn't seeing results with her negatives. So use caution if you intend to over extend your timing.
Next, we had to wash our fabrics to remove the chemical from them, to leave the resulting stencil/photo negative details. For this, we ran cold water in the sink, and agitated the fabric in the water for 5 minutes. This helps loosen the chemical from the fabric. As you can see in the photo, you can see the outline of one of my designs next to the dark blue. See how the water is yellow? That's the residual chemical leaving the fabric! I washed with bare hands, but I recommend using gloves for this process as well.
Now we had to air dry our projects. We just set them back outside in the sun for a few minutes, and periodically checked on them. See at the top of my square? There's that hashing I told you about :( Make sure to set something sturdy underneath your project, making sure it's large enough to keep this from happening! After the squares were dried, we brought them back inside.
Now to the easiest part, if you know how to sew with a sewing machine! Note: You can complete this part by hand sewing. With right sides facing together, match up your corners and sew around three sides, leaving one side open for stuffing.
Don't forget to cut your corners before you reverse the casing. This makes pointing your corners easy and clean.
Say hello to your needy cat! This is my sweetie pie Ace! She's my little helper :3 This step isn't necessary but it will make you smile :3
Turn your pillow casing inside out, stuff it, then fold in the open edges about 1/4". Sew a straight line across, sew in your ends, and your done! Like I said, my dye job came out bleh, but I still had loads of fun doing this, and I'm extremely eager to revisit this. I'm bummed you can't see the lady's outline or my space stuff, but again, I want to revisit this in the future for sure!