Cyanotype in the Tropics

In December of 2021, Elizabeth, her husband and her sister went to Hawaii to attend the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor.  Their father was aboard the USS Downes on December 7, 1941.

She decided to take along some pretreated cyanotype fabric along with pins, foam core board, and saran wrap.  Thinking it would be fun to get some of the tropical leaves and flowers in cyanotype as she had seen some lovely examples online.

Luckily, they stayed in Waikiki next to a park where she could pick up plenty of items to try.  Unluckily the weather was not very sunny that week, the hotel balcony got a lot of shade, and there was a lot of rain.  Thus, the results were less than satisfactory.  Here are a few pictures of the set up.

Fast forward to August of this year (2023), she had the chance to return but to Kauai this time.  She was sure that the results would be so much better in the summertime.  Boy, was she wrong.  She got Covid on the second day there and so most of her time was relegated to the house and yard, limiting the choices of plant materials and not giving much time for crafting or experimenting.

After both experiences, she has decided that should she return (there is the chance to go back next May), she would need to find some pieces of glass under which to flatten her items to keep them from blowing in the wind.

Have you ever tried to craft while on a vacation?