SUN PRINTS
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The NEPW Sun Prints demonstrations by Nick & Paula Webb at the Tendring Hundred Shows
are always popular with Children and Adults.
The following is a short tutorial on how to make them at home.

Sun prints demonstrate the most basic principles of photography.
They are easy to produce and are fun to make, and are educational for children.
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SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
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ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURERS ADVICE WHEN USING CHEMICALS !!
The chemicals used are perfectly safe WHEN USED AS DIRECTED BY THE MANUFACTURER,
but obviously one should always avoid ingesting them.
YOUNG CHILDREN MUST ALWAYS BE SUPERVISED when using any chemical products.
Users with sensitive skin should avoid contact by wearing rubber gloves (see manufacturer's instructions).
Wash hands afterwards or after contact with fixer.
The small amounts used can be safely disposed of down household drains.
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WHAT DO I NEED?
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First, a supply of photographic printing paper(enlarging paper), obtainable from many photographic retailers
(even in this digital age) or online
(www.7dayshop.com or www.mx2.com for example)
It comes in various formats, finishes and quantities.
For starters a pack of 25 sheets will be adequate, size 7" x 5" is ideal.
You do NOT need the most expensive grade in the shop so buy the cheapest (gloss or matt) to start with, you can try
out other textures and finishes later if you decide to experiment further.

Second, some fixer, it is available as powder or liquid concentrate.
The liquid concentrate is preferrable as it is easier to mix small quantities.
A small pack will process a large number of Sun prints.
Used fixer should be discarded at the end of the session, but may be stored in a sealed plastic container for further use.
Fresh dilute fixer can be stored for months in a sealed container, but ENSURE containers are PROMINENTLY LABELLED.

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ALWAYS ENSURE THAT ALL CHEMICALS ARE CORRECTLY LABELLED AND STORED OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN!!!!
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Third, one or two shallow rectangular plastic, NOT METAL, trays/dishes large enough to easily accommodate the paper,
you do not need expensive developing dishes, cat litter trays or similar are ideal and cheap.
A glass/plastic graduated measuring jug for mixing fixer.
Plus plastic tongs for handling the paper, a large clothes peg would do, or rubber gloves.
A shoe box lid or shallow opaqe tray larger than the paper (Quality Street tin lid or similar), and a piece of opaque
black plastic or card, large enough to cover the tray (Piece of black bin liner).
Some absorbent kitchen roll.
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PROCEDURE:
There is no need for a darkroom, just a normal shady room, kitchen or bathroom is best.

Setting up:
Mix the fixer according to the instructions, then pour the fixer into one tray about an inch deep(25mm).
Pour some clean water into the other tray (see Washing/Drying below).

Exposing the paper:
Open the pack of paper, remove one sheet, being careful not to expose all the other sheets to light.
Quickly place the paper on the shoe-box lid/tray, light sensitive side(gloss/textured) uppermost and
cover it with the plastic sheet/card.
Close paper pack securely to prevent light entry.

Remove cover sheet from shoe-box lid/tray and quickly arrange some objects on the paper surface.
Alternatively you could pre-arrange the items on a small piece of glass or clear plastic sheet and then place it over the paper.
Whilst ensuring that the objects don't move place the assembly in a source of bright light, preferrably bright sunshine,
but a powerful desk halogen lamp will be OK.
Expose the lay-up for about 1-2 mins in sunshine, longer in artificial light(3-4 mins)
You will observe that the uncovered parts of the paper will darken and probably change colour.
When the paper has darkened sufficiently, re- cover it with the plastic/card.

Fixing:
The next step is to 'fix' the image to prevent it turning black when exposed to more light.
Remove cover sheet and all the masking objects, and quickly immerse the paper in the fixing solution.
The fixing time will be about 60secs or as recommended in the instructions.
The fixer will bleach the image slightly and it will appear lighter than when exposed.

Washing/Drying:
After fixing, use the tongs or gloves to transfer the print to the water bath.
If you are working in a kitchen or bathroom you will not need the water bath as you can fill the
sink with water and use that instead.
Prints should be washed for about 5minutes and then partially dried by dabbing with some kitchen roll.
They can then be hung on a line with clothes pegs or carefully dried with a hairdryer.

Hints/Tips:
Exposure is very much a case of trial and error and personal taste.
Bright sunshine will produce a hard outline(shadow), whereas a cloudy day
will tend to produce softer, more diffuse outlines.
No two prints will be identical, which is one of the attractions of sunprints.
With very long exposures there may well be some colour changes in parts of the image.
An interesting technique is to place some extra objects on the paper part way through the exposure time
(try not to disturb the existing pieces).
This will result in some objects being a different shade.
Alternatively you could remove some of the objects instead, or even combine both techniques!!

Young children just love to make prints of their hands and feet.
Just let them place their hand/foot, without moving it(that's the tricky bit), on the paper for 2-3mins and
then fix and wash as before.The prints could be framed and hung on their bedroom wall.

THAT'S ALL THERE IS TO IT!

HAPPY FUN PRINTING.........Ooops! SUN PRINTING

Ivan (Webmaster, North Essex Photographic Workshop)

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REMEMBER!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MANUFACTURERS ADVICE WHEN USING CHEMICALS !!
ALWAYS ENSURE THAT ALL CHEMICALS ARE CORRECTLY LABELLED AND STORED OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN!!!!
The chemicals used are perfectly safe WHEN USED AS DIRECTED BY THE MANUFACTURER,
but obviously one should always avoid ingesting them.
YOUNG CHILDREN MUST ALWAYS BE SUPERVISED when using any chemical products.
Users with sensitive skin should avoid contact by wearing rubber gloves (see manufacturer's instructions).
Wash hands afterwards or after contact with fixer.
Used fixer should be discarded at the end of the session, but may be stored in a sealed plastic container for further use.
Fresh dilute fixer can be stored for months in a sealed container, but ENSURE that containers are PROMINENTLY LABELLED.
The small amounts used can be safely disposed of down household drains.
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