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Watching a sunprint emerge |
Children at Mathare North library and our partner GOAL recently had a chance to experiment with sunprints -- also called cyanotypes. Trustee Susan Phillips also traveled to Sipili library in Laikipia East to bring the activity to our rural children. They all learned something about the history of photography, the power of the sun, and the creative possibilities of everyday objects. Susan brought the sunprint paper from the U.S., and along with volunteer Margaret Kasten explained the process and helped the children carry out each step. Leaves, flowers, toys, eyeglasses, keys, safety pins, cheesecloth....a wide array of materials were on hand, and the children made the most of them. |
Sunprints are a great way to involve children in image-making. No darkroom is required, and the possibilities are endless! Sunprint paper has been treated with a chemical that is sensitive to light in the ultraviolet spectrum -- in other words, sunshine. However, it does not respond to fluorescent or incandescent indoor lighting.
That means that you can compose your image indoors under electric lights, without starting the exposure process. Objects of different types are placed on the paper, and then an image is created when the the paper and objects are taken outdoors and exposed to daylight until the blue paper lightens in color. Then the paper is rinsed in plain water.
There’s something magical about watching an image appear just through the power of the sun...like being inside a camera and seeing what happens.
Here are a few of the sunprints the children made...
