Hi everyone, Just checking in to say hello, and to let you know that yes! we are still mailing out cyanotype kits, chemistry and handmade contact frames all over the world. I know cyanotype helped our little household (and so many others) keep the creative photographic juices flowing through the Covid lockdowns, and I still…
Much to our surprise, yes!For years and years we had no luck at all with pre-coating paper. When we tried the resulting images had been half-strength or the paper exposed itself inside the dark bag. Then quite unexpectedly we had a happy accident. For most occasions there is really no advantage to having paper pre-prepared.…
As I’m sure most of you already know – in February 2016 Fujifilm Japan announced that they would soon cease production of their amazing FP-100C peel-apart polaroid-compatible film. This was the last of the professional instant colour films available, and we’ve found it really hard to say goodbye. FP 100C was the backbone of one of…
Since I started playing with Silver-Gelatin Dry Glass Plates I’ve been keen to find some sort of plate holder that would fit my 4×5″ camera without a lot of fuss. Glass plates are generally 2mm thick, and of course don’t fit comfortably into a standard 4×5″ film holder. The Light Farm, that perennial goldmine of…
A spooky as all get out, “the snow only just melted” George Eastman House. In April 2015 it was *my* turn to get incredibly lucky. With enormous gratitude to the South Australian Arts funding body ArtsSA, I tootled off to George Eastman House in Rochester, New York to undertake a week long Ambrotype and Tintype…
From the top of Sulphur Mountain Now and then, if you’re stupidly lucky, you get crazy opportunities to do absurdly fun things. (I have to note that this is two times in a row for me, if you’ve been reading the other blog posts) Since January 18th of this year I’ve had the pleasure to…
cyanotype photogram by Anna Atkins The original Blue Goo is still the most archival of the photographic processes, and nothing could be easier or more versatile. Originally invented by our Main Man Sir John Herschel, deep thinker, tea drinker and dabbler botanist – who was looking for a way to make quick copies of all…
The Art Shed at BigCi When I’m not playing alchemist, I’m an artist (who coincidentally works principally in alchemy) – you can read a bit more about my practice and see some more examples of my work on my website. Recently I got to do one of the most absurdly fun things anyone has managed…
I had no idea what my colleagues were so excited about. While I’d been away on a residency they’d found some new photonerdery to get all tripped out and obsessed on – nothing new on that score! But once I saw the images they were making, well… I had to have a looksee at the…
The other day our friend Fruzsi came to us with a problem – she’s bought a roll of expired colour film for her Diana on eBay and taken it Adventuring in The Big Wide World, only to be told on her return that her local 1-hour photo lab couldn’t process it. “Nonsense”, I said, thinking…
