Setting the Tone
The blues + coffee = the year 2025 so far
As we meander through the back and forth that is early spring weather, I find myself ready for a new season and a new page.
This winter was a blistering reminder that even if one has a thorough plan, it does not mean one is guaranteed to see the events unfold accordingly. I’m still learning that lesson. Still sitting front row repeating the grade until I graduate with the knowledge that I don’t have much control over what happens in this little life.
There was a moment somewhere in the middle of February on a cloudy Sunday afternoon. I was trying to keep it together and not complain for the 1000th time about questions I couldn’t find answers to. Words poured out of me as I expressed how this year had been nothing short of a deluge of unwanted discoveries I had no desire to know.
To my right was a dear person in my life, listening to me lose my marbles for the umpteenth time this year. After my emotional moment, he said
“Humans adapt through every twist or turn, and then we die. You have to adapt.”
It’s a simple thing to say, harder to put into practice. But I shall try. So here’s to adapting and setting the tone on how I would like the rest of the year to unfold. Here’s to pacing myself, listening to my body, and being intentional with how I use my time.
Speaking of setting the tone, let’s talk about toning cyanotypes.
A couple of weeks ago, I taught a workshop on toning cyanotypes. The process is a lovely way to create a different mood and/or provide more dimension to a print.
Common solutions used for toning are coffee, black tea, green tea, and wine. The compounds in these solutions, like the tannins in tea, bind well with cyanotypes and alter the color of the print. Below are some effects that come from each solution.
Green tea: produces more eggplant/dark shadow kind of effect
Black tea: will stain your print the most and will create a nice warm brown hue. It gives a very warm effect to prints
Coffee: considered a "cool" toner, this will enhance the blues and create a subtle gray/brown effect
Wine: can change the color to brown and/or black
The thing to remember with toning is that the print will not change drastically. Sometimes it’s just a subtle shift in color and it may take a few minutes to see the color alter. Part of the fun is watching the solution affect the print in subtle shifts!
Below is some examples of the before and after of cyanotypes I toned the other day. The solution I used is leftover coffee from my morning cup. You can also view some other pieces I’ve toned here.
What I noticed with the coffee is it gave not only a brown tint, but also a slight green shade to parts of the image that I really enjoy. I painted coffee along the hands in the first photo and the arms in the second photo. I was pleased with the dimension it gave the print.
The bottom image I did a wash across the top to give it more depth to the blown out highlights. I like how it evened out the exposure of the overall print and brought focus back to the subject in the middle.
This winter was rough, but the spring gives hope that something new can grow through the cracks. These days, everything seems to be in a chaotic flux no matter where one looks. It’s important to find the simple beauty in daily life. Like a cup of coffee in the morning, a friendly exchange with a stranger, a perfectly sweet chocolate chip cookie, a gentle breeze through the trees, or a kiss from a lover. These are the moments to hold on to as spring surrounds us.
I hope you have a restful weekend and take some time to nourish your soul.
Take care, Ariel
Your words are an internal, gentle breeze on a warm day that carries the sweat away.