Untitled (Entanglement series, No. 8847-1) copyright 2023 Douglas Stockdale –
After realizing that my classic cyanotype pre-made chemicals have an expiration, I have spent the majority of January reprinting many of earlier cyanotype prints for my Entanglement series with ‘fresh’ solutions. Last week, while using another pair of classic cyanotype chemicals (solutions A&B) that I purchased last May, again, now at eight months, I started observing the same chemical expiration issues; first wash water no longer blue and turning greenish, blue paper fog that I can’t wash out and a slight reduction in print contrast.
What I had not realized with my first bottles of classic cyanotype pre-made chemicals is that these don’t last forever. So with the second set of pre-made chemicals I have started keeping an eye on the first wash-out of the print using a low pH, 4.5 – 5.0 water that cyanotype prints really respond to with a slight increase in contrast and nice blue hues. Boom! At eight months old (from when I had purchase these, while who know how long these have pre-made solutions had been sitting on the stores shelf); there were the tattle-tell signs that something had changed for the worse in the print quality.
Earlier I had checked with original chemical manufacturers for the FAC, which stated that once their chemical synthesis was completed, the resulting chemical (FAC) was good for one year. I had not checked on the stability of the other chemical (PF) and sure enough, this chemical was also only good for only one year after it was manufactured.
Meanwhile, the two primary manufactures of the pre-made solutions (or the mix-it-yourself chemicals) for the alt-photo users do not provide either a manufacturing date or ‘use-by’ date. To combat that issue, I am now purchasing smaller quantities of the pre-made A&B solutions; 100 mL and not the 500 mL bottles. I am making reality small prints, using about 1 mL of each A&B to coat one 11 x 14″ sheet to print my cyanotypes. So a 100 mL bottle will allow me to make 100 cyanotype prints at this size. And I only print one or two cyanotypes per night.
With the shipping cost and purchasing directly from the manufacturer, the 100 mL bottles are a slight increase in cost, but for me, well worth it to keep that part of my cyanotype printing process under control.
While re-printing my Entanglement series, I am also reconsidering how I might hand-sew each of these prints. Another opportunity to further develop my narrative from my Critical Mass 2023 Finalist project investigating Structural Housing Inequity issues in America. Such as the image above with the ambiguous and mysterious sign in this print; is this an advertisement, public information, a warning or…?
Untitled (Entanglement series, No. 8847-1), hand-sewn classic cyanotype print, 9 x 9″ image on 11 x 14″ sheet of Revere Platinum archival cotton rag.
Make every day an Earth Day
Doug
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Book development workshop:
Book Making with Douglas Stockdale, on Zoom with Medium Photo, March 16-17 & 23-24th (4 sessions, two consecutive weekends), 2024, from 9am-12pm (Pacific Standard Time).
Artist book available:
The Flow of Light Brushes the Shadow, an artist book from Singular Images Press, 2022, $60.00 (CA sales tax for those residing in the USA) plus shipping expenses. Message me douglas.stockdale.artist@gmail.com
Singular Images 
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