Save The Dates?

Did you know the Save-the-date you received is one-of-a-kind Cyanotype and Linoprint? Here's how Claire and Jevins made each of them, back-to-front.

SO WHY CYANOTYPES

If you aren't familiar, cyanotype is a photographic printing process that involves coating a surface with a solution of iron salts that react to UV light. after exposing a treated surface to the sun with objects or negatives on top, the resulting print is washed with water to reveal the final image in a brilliant blue.

In the summer of 2022, we attended a Cyanotype workshop and loved it. There was something addictive about gingerly laying tiny objects and ephemera out on top of paper in the hot sun and then watching as their resulting images slowly appeared from under a sloshing water bath. What was ghostly and inexplicable fresh from the sun became a permanent, dreamy image under water.

With Jevins' background as an illustrator and print-maker, Claire's background in photography, the sun's role in our engagement story, and our apartment always full of little delights, this whole thing felt like the perfect way to start beckoning everyone into the world and life we are building together.

Here's how we made each and every save-the-date over the course of a month:

IT STARTED IN THE APARTMENT

Have you seen our place? Ya know, some people have a couple of surfaces here and there with framed photos, candles, maybe a stack of magazines and some tasteful objects placed here and there...we have boxes of bones.

Our apartment is full of the things that we have gathered throughout our life together that delight us, and a lot of things delight us; we have a pressed flower box from the estate of a prolific paper artist full of dried pressed flowers, we have feathers from hikes and walks across Idaho, some antique bottles and figurines nabbed at swap meets, and lace given to us by cherished family members. We have a full life, and our apartment is no different.

So, we gathered everything we thought would make for a good negative, and started playing around to see what kinds of images we could make.

Then, we bought our supplies across a few different arts supply stores.

it's safe to say we cleared the shelves of a few places of all their postcard-sized hot and cold-pressed watercolor paper, and then when we couldn't find more, Jevins bought more paper and cut it down by hand.

The photo sensitive chemicals were easy to procure and mix, and once applied to our paper in a few strokes with sponge brushes, we let the paper hang dry in our bathroom, and then we packed a stack into sun-safe black plastic envelopes to keep them safe from exposure.

For our first batch, we decided to take advantage of our time back at the lake house where Jevins had proposed on the banks of lake Erie a year earlier, and stage our first round of prints under the same trees and sun.

The best lesson that came from this initial session of prints was it would be best to let go of a sense of structure and just let ourselves play and see what happens. Place paper in the sun, put some stuff on top of it, time how long you keep it "cooking", and then slip it into a water bath to let the chemicals oxidize and permanently turn a deep, beautiful cyan.

What came out of that session was about 40 prints. Frustrations led to lessons, accidents turned into delightful discoveries.

WHEN WE RETURNED FROM BUFFALO

about a week later, we repeated the process, only this time, we decided to chase the light in our apartment.

In 7 days, we got a whole system down. We coated paper at night, tucked each leaf in a dark box, and then spent about 2 hours from 10am-12pm the next day arranging prints on any narrow sliver of direct sunlight we could get in our bedroom and kitchen.

We would time each print in the sun for about 5 minutes, and then bring the prints to our sink and bathtub pre-filled with trays of water to rinse in vinegar and hydrogen peroxide water baths. The cats bobbed and weaved between us in the sun, and we squealed with delight at each other when arrangements surprised us with how lovely they turned out. It was bliss.

THE OBJECTS USED

TO MAKE OUR IMAGES

bones and feathers, light,
Found on hikes at Mountains' height.

metal jacks and a dog that points,
Ivory-colored, stiff in joints.

Bottles old with cloudy glass,
Echoes of time in layers that pass.

pressed dried ferns and petals fine,
A paper artist's bouquet divine.

Archers, arrows, beasts in play,
From past games of yesterday.

Bugs that are sealed in resin balls,
Frozen always in crystal halls.

a small glass house, squat and clear,
With a metal ladder climbing near.

We also used the ring J made

when he asked C for her hand

in Eclipse shade

All these things to show you lot

when we plan to tie the knot!

After about a week, we made more than 90 unique prints, and we were only halfway done!

Jevins took it from here.

Wanna get a better look at everything we made? Click and drag through the pile below to get a good look at each one!

With all of our cyanotypes exposed and dry, it was time to turn them into post cards.

Among other things Jevins is a print artist, graphic designer and illustartor, after all.

J took a linoblock, drew our save-the-date info backwards onto it, and meticulously carved out the negative space for a stamp over a day and a half in our kitchen.

Once finished, he took it to his print and illustration studio along with our exposure stack. He applied ink to the carved lino block stamp with a roller, and then gently and carefully placed each print on top of the block. He then transferred the print sandwich over to a special printing press, compressed the block and paper together, and then released to reveal our blanks, ready to be written on.

After a day of drying, the work was ready for addressing. We chose each print for our loved ones, curating carefully, and then Jevins took the time to hand-write our website info, everyone's address, and specially-chosen horse stamp to each one.

We love you people! We're so pleased!

Now we gotta make the invites!