Easy alternative processes?

[Darren Kruger]

I just checked in the book "OverExposure: Health Hazards in Photography" by Susan Shaw, 1983, and here is what is listed for potassium ferricyanide (Farmer's reducer):

Potassium ferricyanide is only slightly toxic by skin contact, inhalation or ingestion. Exposing potassium ferricyanide to intense heat, hot acid or strong ultraviolet light can cause decomposition and release of highly toxic hydrogen cyanide gas.

Potassium ferrocyanide (carbro printing process, reducer) also has the same description.

The book also has sections on various processes including cyanotypes. It says "Potassium ferricyanide is only slightly hazardous by itself." Among the precautions is to "avoid using carbon arcs for printing" and saying that using "sunlight, a sunlamp or another light source" is preferable.

-Darren

[Vaughn]

That is the standard dope about Potassium ferricyanide/cyanotypes. It is considered a safe process for kids...and I do not know how many 10s of thousands of "Sun Print" kits have been sold and used by kids.

Carbon arc lamps are intense -- a good friend ran the carbon-arc powered Simplex projector at the local movie house for awhile. The movie house cat was also named Simplex. The print-making lab at the university ran one for silk screening many years ago.