Documenting with Cyanotype
During the Queen’s Jubilee baton relay in July 2022, a group of year 7 students came down to the canal to watch and also take part in different activities around the water including kayaking, a barge trip and making cyanotypes.
The area around the canal where the baton relay was staged, was not a high traffic area - it is usually fenced off to the public as it is owned by the coal yard opposite. This also made it a place to find many different plants that have sprung up and not been cut back as the edge of the canal on the pedestrian side - dandelines, huge weeds, ferns and more decorated the space around us.
The children, staff and myself chatted about the process of cyanotype and its history in botanical studies. We also talked about the light and UV intensity on the day as we were in the middle of a heatwave. Given that we were working in the middle of the day with almost 40degrees heat - we discussed how this meant that the cyanotype would take little time to expose and make our prints. The children were in three groups on rotation, and each time they managed to find great specimens to expose. As we did not have direct access to water it proved tricky to keep the water bath clean, but the Canal & River Trust and Andrew from Appetite were helping change over water and keep things moving.
Below are a selection of specimens from the day made by students and teachers, some feature a commemorative border for the baton relay. This works will be sent to the school for the classes to display at the start of the next term.
