My First Successfulish Cyanotype

It worked! I realize that cyanotypes are not rocket science, but these days it seems like getting anything to work is like pulling teeth.

This image is from a 5x7 digital negative made from a very high contrast scan of Rollei RPX 25 that was shot with my 1924 Kodak Hawkeye folder. The contact printed cyanotype itself is on Fabriano Artistico hot press watercolor paper, which I'm really enjoying as it seems to take the cyanotype sensitizer very well, but is sturdy as an old truck. I don't understand why some people and texts refer to the cyanotype solution as 'emulsion'? As I understand it, it's just a solution whereas silver gelatin is actually an emulsion. I'd love to be corrected on this.

BTW, I'm this far _____ from being able to implement comments here, I think. What is a blog without comments? Part of the reason I migrated here was to (hopefully) make it easier to read recent comments. I think I'm on the verge of actually hiring someone to help me whip this site into shape. Any suggestions? You can find my email on the contact page, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

While I'm at it, I need to find a way to caption photos. End of whining.

I'm working on an article on cyanotypes, but I need more images for it and I would also like to experiment with bleaching and toning. My first attempt at toning was an unmitigated disaster. I had planned on making some home made silver emulsion printing out papers but I got distracted by cyanotypes which seem a better fit for my crude darkroom and houseful of (3) cats.

Ha! I figured out how to add captions, it wasn't difficult at all. I love that there's a certain logic to this site builder. Something that I'm sure existed on the Wordpress site, but I couldn't get a handle on it.

Why does this image appear so blurry? I'll have to go back and check if it's like this in the original, which was a 6x9 on 120 film.