This June, I finally picked up my film camera that had been sitting idle for the five years I’ve been attending University. I snapped a shot of my friend’s band playing in the Octagon to celebrate their newly released single.

A thought occurred to me: “I wonder if I could print this on a shirt for them!?”. After a little research, I fell down the cyanotypes rabbit hole. It’s a specific photographic process that utilises UV light to develop images. I was drawn to the slight vintage aesthetic of this process, and it retains the photographic feel of the original image taken.

Equipment:

● A sunny day

● Negative photo, printed on transparency film.

● T-shirts (Natural fibre). Note that the image may not show in dark clothing unless bleached prior.

● Cyanotype set: contains two bottles called Part A (ferric ammonium citrate) and Part B (Potassium ferricyanide). It can be found at most stores that sell art and craft supplies, such as Warehouse Stationery or Spotlight.

● Bowl

● Foam brush

● Cardboard

● Clamps

● Glass

● Gloves (optional)

● Gentle laundry liquid (optional)

Step 1. Find an image – bonus points if it’s your own photograph!

Step 2. Turn the image into a negative. This can be done through photo editing software such as Photoshop, Affinity Photo, or Canva (a free platform). All you need to do is invert the image's colour either through a button or a layer adjustment tool.

You can also touch up the image to your liking by playing around with curve adjustments to edit an image's tonal range and colour balance, which control highlights, midtones and shadows. Adjusting these affects the contrast, brightness, and colour of the image. For example, some people suggest that a magenta tone is more effective for blocking the UV light.

Step 3. Print the image on to transparency film, which acts as the stencil. Most home printers can print using purchased transparency film. Printing services can take care of this for you. Printing two identical images and layering them can create a more defined outcome.

Step 4. Get a clean shirt or other item of clothing.

Step 5. Work out where you want the image to be and mark this with a pencil or masking tape.

Step 6. Have all your other equipment ready and close by.

Step 7. Put cardboard in the shirt - this is to ensure that the mixture doesn’t bleed through to the back and to secure the stencil to lie as flat against the fabric as possible.

Step 8. In a dark room (one with closed curtains is enough), stir the cyanotype mixture together in the bowl, following the product directions.

Step 9. Using a foam brush, paint the mixture onto the shirt using the pencil or masking tape as your guide: this is where you want the image to show up. Note that there will be some bleeding due to the porous nature of the fabric.

Step 10. Let the mixture dry completely. You can speed this up using a hairdryer if impatient.

Step 11. Once dry, place the stencil on the prepared fabric and lay the glass on top. Clamp all layers to the cardboard; the aim is for the fabric to be smooth and taut and for the stencil to lie as flat against the fabric as possible.

Step 12. Take the shirt outside to process in the sunlight. It is better to over-expose than under-expose; I’ve left some out for up to 50 minutes. This will depend on the overall weather conditions.

Step 13. Unclamp everything and hand-wash the shirt under cold water until it runs clear. Adding a little gentle laundry liquid can help get the excess mixture out.

Step 14. Line dry. The image will continue to develop.

Step 15. Admire your work!!