Cyanotypes on rice paper

[Pete Oakley]

I'm going to try and produce some cyanotypes on rice paper. I have no idea why, I just want to try it.
I have two questions.
1/. If you do this do you size the rice paper? If so what with?
2/. How do you display your prints? Do you mount them on mount board? What colour mount board?
Thanks in advance.
Pete.

[Ironage]

Sounds like a creative idea I haven’t tried before. I wouldn’t size the paper until you see if the paper will hold up in the wash. The paper falling apart would be my first concern.

Color? How about a contrasting complimentary color? Yellow.


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[Pete Oakley]

Hi Ironage, thanks for that. I hot mount my cyanotypes onto white mounting board usually but as the colour of any mounting board would show through the rice paper I would like any other ideas. If I mount them on white board and the colour shows through I might as well print on white paper in the first place.
Pete.

[jprofita]

I have printed cyanotype on rice paper for a number of years and like it very much, my favorite so far is Yasutomo Sketch. It is tricky to coat and process as it is quite fragile. I tape the corners to a sheet of acrylic and dab the coating with a soft brush. I have tried but do not use sizing. Once wet the paper tends to tear very easily so i account for this by making sheets quite a bit larger than the image size. If a print is larger than 4x5 I will use a wooden dowel under the top edge to help remove the print from the wash water. They are dried on window screens.

The image above is a develop out cyanotype toned with wine tannins. The mottling is an artifact of scanning. Have fun and post your results.

[jnantz]

Pete
the best thing about using rice paper is waxing it so it is translucent afterwards. sometimes it's like glass ..

[Pete Oakley]

Thanks jnantz, what type of wax, candle or bees wax. Would wax polish be an idea?
Pete.

[jprofita]

Following the wax recommendation... Along the same line I have put polymer gravures made on thin kozo into frames with glass on both sides and a small light behind. Joe

[jnantz]

Thanks jnantz, what type of wax, candle or bees wax. Would wax polish be an idea?
Pete.

I use paraffin ( which im told is very bad, it is very flammable .. I've never had issues so I'll continue to wing-it until I don't ) ...
I've never used it but bees wax and renaissance wax people swear by ... ( I've got a brick of bees wax AND a tub of renaissance wax too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )
if you can find the wax people use to do encaustic painting, that will work well too .. ( it comes in little beads and melts ez-pz )
not sure if it is flammable, but I remember doing a demo with that stuff and the paper looked almost invisible!
have fun!
John

[emu]

I love the idea of achieving a glass-like finish. Do you have any specific paper recommendations that can help me achieve better glassy results? I bought a roll of rice paper from Amazon, but I think it was too thick because it remains fairly opaque when wet (I haven't gotten my hands on any wax yet, but I assume the level of transparency would be the same). If you have a particular brand or type of paper you prefer for this technique, please let me know. Additionally, any tips on what to look for when buying the paper would be greatly appreciated.

[esearing]

I remember a YT video of platinum/palladium on rice paper. They used a coat hanger to lift the paper out of the chemistry with the wet paper folded over at the top about 1/2 inch. it was obviously a delicate procedure.