Going through my photographs today I decided to print one of the images from my visit to Darwin. I have fond memories of the friendly locals there, the buzzing sound of Pierre’s VW bus, the soft strains of an anonymous piano being played, and the distant cracking-boom of detonating dynamite charges. This print was exposed for 20 minutes in a UV light box, was given a water bath for 2 minutes, and a healthy spraying of Windex followed by a good clean wash. I decided to give ammonia a try today in place of the HC110 bath. Looking around the house, I couldn’t find a bottle of straight ammonia so I grabbed the Windex and used it to clean up the print. Why not! It worked great and is now one of my favorite bleaching agents for cyanotypes. I wonder if it’s archival?

Pinhole/Cyanotype using Ware’s New Cyanotype formula.  20 minute exposure, developed in water and bleached in windex.

lauracampbell_darwincyan.jpg

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