When I run cyanotype workshops, I want people to have fun, learn something, have fun, and make things they can take home. The cyanotypes we make on paper are great, but often remain hidden indoors. So I get my guests to print a design on a tote bag. It serves as a lesson in working with fabric, on thinking about graphic design, and as a useful reminder of a hopefully enjoyable day.
Here I’ll share my tips for printing on tote bags.
I’m also sharing files you can download and print out to make your own version of two recent designs.
Lesson 1 – Preparations
Remember to use cotton tote bags – cyanotype does not work on man-made fibres. While I buy relatively cheap ones in bulk for workshops, I recommend choosing whichever sort you will definitely use! Whether it’s long handles or short handles, white fabric or natural fabric, big or small versions, get the one you like best.
If you have time, wash, dry and iron the bags before coating with chemicals. Any shrinking will be done with, and storage chemicals will be gone. But also, if you don’t have time, don’t worry – it will still work.
While lots of my bags have a simple square of coated area, you can be as playful as you like with coating. Drips, stripes, splodges, front and back, handles… whatever you like!
Lesson 2 – Be Bold!
Tote bag fabric is usually rough, with an open weave. A common mistake is to try and use delicate subjects such as stems of grasses. Often these either don’t expose well, or are lost in the final image on a bag.
Choose a strong design – bold shapes, areas of negative space, sharp lines, these all work well.
Stencils cut from thick paper or thin card (is this the same stuff?!) are very helpful.
Lesson 3 – Expose Well
Assuming you are using non-transparent objects (thick paper, coins, big leaves) to create your design, you can expose for a good long time without worrying that the hidden areas will change colour.
Expose well to ensure that you get a deep, rich blue for your design.
Lesson 4 – Finishing Off
Fabrics soak up much more chemicals when coated than does paper. And when you expose, only the top layer of chemicals changes to Prussian Blue (the compound that gives cyanotypes their colour). All the remainder needs to be washed away
Start by rinsing your bag under a running tap for a few minutes. You will see a lot of yellow-green going down the plughole. Once this stops, more or less, fill the sink / bowl (or whatever you are washing in) and let the bag soak.
Generally, just like on paper, you want to soak until the hidden areas in your design are the same colour as the original fabric. This could be 30 minutes, but it’s not a problem to leave your bag to soak for several hours. I would recommend changing the water after the first 30 minutes to avoid the released chemicals staining the rest of the bag.
Lesson 5 – Aftercare
Cyanotype is sensitive to acid and alkali pH, meaning that a lot of detergents will permanently change the colour of your print from blue to yellow, or even to nothing at all!
I recommend hand washing with a gentle soap, such as an olive oil soap. This will clean the bag without damaging the colour.
If in doubt, try a bit of soapy water on a small area first.
DOWNLOAD FREE PRINT DESIGNS
Print on normal (80gsm) printer paper. Cut if required (see below)
Press close to the bag with a sheet of plastic or (careful!) glass to get sharp printed edges.
Expose well – with good sunshine this could take 30 minutes to over an hour. Keep going as long as the areas that are BLACK on the print have NOT changed colour on the bag. See my cyanotype instructions for more information on what I mean here, or contact me.
Print 1 – Fuck Your Morals
I took a photo of a stick-up outside Booksa, a bookshop in Zagreb, Croatia. Artist unknown, but thank you! It is based on a photograph of a Femen protester in Paris in 2013.
I’ve edited it to give a more dramatic design and used it to print on a tote bag.
Version 1 will give blue lightning bolts and a strong jagged white border. The outermost area will all be blue.
Version 2 will give white lightning within a blue jagged area. The outer area will be white. I recommend covering any chemicals that fall outside the are of the paper to keep the rest of the bag white.
Print 2 – Home Sewing Is Killing Fashion
A great take on the 1980’s record industry propaganda that ‘home taping is killing music’, but for sewers, menders and makers. Possibly originally created by a Blogger back in 2006 (https://boplogg.blogspot.com/2006/12/home-sewing-is-killing-fashion.html)
Version 1 will give you a white design on a blue background.
Version 2 will give you a blue design on a white background – cover any chemicals not already covered by the paper or those bits will end up blue! Or cut around the design to give a white area shaped to your choice within a bigger blue space.
If you can support me as I share everything I know about cyanotypes (and other related stuff), I will blush madly and try not to hide my face as I thank you most sincerely.
There are unique works available from my shop.
Or perhaps just buy me a sheet of watercolour paper via KoFi .
Thank you!
Bonus example – this bag was made by a girl of about 12 years old, who had never seen the process before. She really went for it! Amazing understanding – leaving a gap between the fox and hill to create blue borders; putting the moon onto a grid, making it hazy; placing the leaves so they are clearly defined (though the fine stems are a bit lost, as discussed above). The scale and perspective!!! The vision!!! This is a wonderful creation.
