First attempts

These, somewhat belatedly, are two of Sunday's first three attempts at cyanotype with J, which I described here.  (The third was blurred by Casper's over-enthusiastic participation.) The prints have been hung to dry then flattened under a pile of books for a couple of days. Some of the selected plants worked better than others: the most delicate grasses are barely visible, while the fat seed pods of the quaking grass have cast very noticeable shadows which detract from their outline. However, the flatter plants with clear shapes, particularly the rocket flowers and dock seeds, have worked better, and I hope that with more experimentation we will get better at creating the effects we want. I'm disappointed with the streakiness of the background: I was not expecting or wanting entirely uniform colour, but I'm not sure if the stripes are the result of poor washing technique or whether the coating of the paper is responsible - perhaps buying the cheapest pack of prepared paper available was not the best decision. We will try some more, with whatever adjustments seem worth trying, and hope to gain more understanding and control as we practise.

Wednesday was the day I made this year's first summer pudding, a delectable dessert for our currant and raspberry season which I described last year (in a blip I can no longer find). It's wickedly delicious with extra thick double cream.