Residents put their creative abilities to work during cyanotypes workshop in Lac La Biche

The event was hosted by the Lac La Biche Museum on July 11.

LAC LA BICHE - About 30 people participated in a cyanotype printing workshop hosted by the Lac La Biche Museum. On July 11, attendees learned how to create their own blue-and-white cyanotype tote bags using sunlight, natural materials, and glass negative plates. The workshop started inside the museum, where the participants were supplied with materials used to design their tote bags.

These materials included flowers, leaves, as well as paper. Then, people ventured outside to expose their creations to sunlight to allow them to dry. Cyanotypes are a fun medium that combine science and art, according to Tara Jacklin, curator of the Lac La Biche Museum.

“It started as an early camera-less photographic method. The chemicals on the paper react to UV light,” Jacklin explained. “Everything the light touches binds the blue colour to the fabric, but all the chemical in the shadows get washed away to reveal the base fabric colour.

This leaves silhouettes on the fabric or paper.” For the workshop, the museum purchased some glass plate negatives for participants to develop on their tote bags to see the photographic element, as well as a range of botanical materials to create their own unique designs. “The museum has done cyanotypes before, and I have in my personal life also played around with them.

I love the combination of historic, scientific and artistic,” she said.