I tried "Sunprinting" on Fabric -- DIY CYANOTYPE 

tip: with cyanotype, the finished product will oxodize over about a month (this is a good thing! the blue will be darker and the whites more crisp) but you can get cyanotype to oxidize immediately by dunking the finished print in water with a little splash (about a capful) of hydrogen peroxide! i dont know if morgan did this in the video but if youre planning to do this yourself, it wasnt mentioned in the video so i figured id mention it

Here's a fun story: I was a student in 1978 when these chemicals were not as well known for art making so there was some risk. I made an art piece about the size of a king size sheet. I got home and put it in the wash and.... yes you know the rest. I completely redid the piece (hours and hours of work) and I was in luck because through crazy good luck the piece and another ended up at the Renwick Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute for a show on surface design.

Honestly, the stripes from folding over seem to well compliment the natural patterns from the plants! It adds extra contrast and interest to the top of the skirt section before the plants start. The dress seems to have turned out best out of everything.

As a relatively new subscriber, I don't know if this channel has always been "Morgan discovers/thinks of a New Thing, proceeds to research the hecc™out of it and now here's a video", but I'm here for it

The first ever book that was illustrated entirely with photographs (in fact it *consisted* entirely of photographs) was _Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions_ (1843), by Anna Atkins. There’s a lovely Objectivity video about it.

To be honest, i love the stripes where the fabric folded. It reminds me of both tie-dye, and those puff-and-slash sleeves on historical European fashion.

Red light or "Safe Light" used when developing black and white photos will also work for prepping for cyanotype coloring. To always get the same exposure use ultra violet led array. A timer will then give the same exposure every time. And old sunning lamp should work as light source.

This is definitely a unique type of resistance dying. The folded parts actually give it a kind of shibori resistance dyed effect, and similar to the indigo shibori dye color too. It turned out beautifully

So dyeing fabric off the bolt would be too much work/mess because of the amount of fabric ... but I wonder if cutting the pattern of the dress from the fabric and dyeing the individual pattern pieces would be easier? It'd allow more control over the object arrangements and exposure. Afterward, put the pieces together as a dress as normal.

How are your messy clothes prettier than my regular clothes? 🤣 You're adorable and I love all of your fun little experiments!

This is weirdly serendipitous timing, I was just thinking about how I'm gonna dye the parasol I'm crocheting once it's made. Part of me likes the concept of sun-dyeing a sun-shade, it's weirdly poetic. And Jacquard Solarfast comes in a variety of colors, so I could get fancy with it...hmm...

Really love the Miss Frizzle vibes I get when I watch you experiment with stuff like this. Take chances, make mistakes, get messy! Thanks for another great video, this was fun

Beautiful, and a lovely video, but I feel like there needs to be a SAFETY NOTE: when using any sort of powdered dyes (especially ones that include a form of cyanide as the main ingredient) one should DEFINITELY be wearing a respirator or dust mask. Once it’s mixed in liquid it’s much safer, but you don’t want to be breathing in any of that powder. Well done with the gloves, though. 👍🏻

Cyanotype reacts with wood when drying, so try not to allow contact with wood when wet. That's what caused the dark line on the tank top. Also, the bleaching action from the oxy clean, is caused by washing soda or sodium carbonate. Ammonia, borax and chlorine bleach will also cause bleaching issues, among other chemicals. I use Woolite All Clothes on my Cyanotype clothes. If you look into cyanotype toning you can get some really great ideas for other looks for cyanotypes as well. Some toners can turn the blue almost black, but I haven't tried them on fabric, only paper (cotton based). All that said, I loved seeing you experiment with this! I too am the kind of person that wants to do all the things.

You could also paint the outside of a glass jar with black acrylic paint. That should make a container that would protect your mixture from sun exposure.

Your comment about blueprints reminded me of my grandmother, who would collect old blueprints which, it turned out were made on linen. She cleaned the ‘blue’ off them and hand stitched handkerchiefs out of them as gifts for friends and family. She was of the ‘make do and mend’ generation, being born at the turn of the 20th century. These days she would be an eco-warrior.

I honestly didn’t expect the final dress to come out THIS good. It looks stunning, so magical!

There is also this technique called eco print where you hammer leafs or other plants into fabric until the chlorophyll stains the fabric and leaves the shape of the plant. It’s really pretty and easy, this Video reminded me of it :)

I’m so obsessed with the like tiger-striping on the final dress! It reminds of me like sunlight dappling in the forest, and the ferns only enhance it! The final product is so beautiful

Morgan: "These are my messy clothes!" Also Morgan: *looks just stunning* Us: *surprised pikachu face* I love all your projects and wild ideas! I have so many things I want to try because of your videos!

This was fun! But as an x-ray tech from the olden days when we processed our film in a darkroom, I have to say it was freaking me out seeing you exposing the treated material to even the smallest bit of light...Lol! Old habits "dye" hard? Lol! Awesome video!

I'm so excited to see you doing this. I've been cyanotype printing for the last couple of years, and you definitely can print using a wet process. You can get some amazing effects by adding washing up liquid bubbles squashed under the glass. There's also no need to dry and press your plant material first. Just pick stuff and lay that on top of your fabric. Pop a sheet of glass on top. You can put a second layer of plant material on top of that, and a second sheet of glass on top of that. That will add some depth to your final image

On the tank top, the darker line actually gives it the illusion of a waistline. It is actually very flattering.

To be honest, I think that gold/tan color that the dark blue turns into after the oxi-clean actually looks really, really nice when it's fully saturated like in the test (as opposed to the half-baked laundry accident). Obviously not what you wanted, but another good method to get another very different color out of the dye and make full use of it. In fact, you could probably create another piece in full tan color by allowing the whole piece to soak in a high concentration oxi-clean bath--Or maybe even, paint/stamp a pattern with some oxi-clean infused water to create a two-toned or three-toned piece with blue, tan, and/or white (which I think would be a nice color combination if it can be well-controlled... Or else a wild, cool tie-dye if uncontrollable, lol).

I'm thinking... if you would take apart the fully gathered dress at the waist seam, it would not only eliminate all the white patches left in the wrinkles, but also greatly ease the problem of trying to do arrangements and exposure on such a large garment. Then you can easily redo the gathers and reattach the skirt.

As a photography student, I took an alternate processes class in college where we learned a number of historical photographic processes, including cyanotype. It was my favorite due to its ease (you really just need some chemicals and UV light) and that beautiful blue color you get in the final result. This is such a cool application for cyanotype processes!

This is SUCH a cool project!!! I remember doing sun prints as a kid. I thought they were THE COOLEST. You dialed it up to 1,000, and the result is GORGEOUS! I absolutely love how much methodical planning you put into this. This is unique and science-y like a Ms. Frizzle dress with a refined polish. Well done!

Personally, I love the so called "tiger stripes"! They look just like the variegation on monstera or ivy, so I think that it fits well

The scarf came out beautifully, even with its random lighter section. And the other tops look awesome! But the first dress is a masterpiece! So gorgeous & unique. Would make beautiful pillowcases, tea towels, towels etc. And I love the 2nd dress too, especially the bodice decorations the second time around.

In response to update 2: When really testing the oxy-soap thingie, it turned very yellow and I thought "oooh, fun colour!" because it still showed the white areas. I wonder if the whole garment could be altered after the first layer back to yellow-ish, and THEN another layer or two of darker blue over that, so that the areas covered in the latter exposures keep both the old pattern, AND a different colour. (I love contrasting colours so all manners of blue-yellow-green are just fun). ... I just realised you could paint fabric like a canvas. Both making depth with adding layers (MOUNTAINS AND TREES), but also making yellow-ish areas pop out. Or green. All kinds of forest-scapes. Hmmmmm.

I love this technique. You can use glass the other way around too if you like. What I mean is arrange your objects on glass, or sandwich between two sheets of glass or clear plexi and thus have time to make your arrangement before exposing the fabric and laying the glass on top. That way you can also make (near) identical copies of the same print. Making your prints on cut out pattern pieces of a garment solves the gather problem and allows for planning where seams meet and continuous pattern. I don't remember but exactly how but there were ways to manipulate the color and exposure further post printing. It's been decades since I tried this in art school so I don't remember all the details. But I also sortof liked laying plantmatter loosely and getting a more abstract shadow effect in variations of blue. Besides objects, organic or other, you can make patterns using duck tape, shapes in black paper and drawing or painting with black paint on glass, printing out negatives of photos on clear plastic film or shaping soft wire and laying out. I remember all the students work as very different and personal. It's a great way to tell a story. Upcycling thrifted white table cloths and napkins with cyanotype is beautiful! Use a wire hanger to dry a dress to eliminate lines. Your dress is just gorgeous and a much cooler garment now than in plain white! Silk is awesone for this, and the lighter band looks entirely intentional and adds interest imo. Happy accident you can use for your advantage!

I’m so glad you got to try this! I went to school for photography and took multiple classes on non silver printing processes which includes cyanotype. After rinsing out with water we used to dip all the prints in peroxide and it made the contrast between the blue and white really pop, similar to your 14 minute test print without having exposed it for that long

I love how you approach projects with a combination of scientific research and whimsy!

The chemist in me: I LOVE this so much. The chemistry teacher in me: AAAAAHHHHHHH there goes all lab safety

It's wild how timely this is - my coworker has been experimenting with cyanotypes for a long time and is making invitations for her brother's wedding using cyanotype! I'm curious, did you find that the dried flowers and plants dyed more evenly than the fresh-cut foliage because they were lying flatter?

I love the stripes from the gathers. They add a lot of interest and stripes are definitely a theme used over and over in fashion throughout history. It's a beautiful dress.

Cyanotype toning! I started googling around as one does with a cool thing one wants to do and apparently the original cyanotypers didn't want everything blue and figured out some techniques to change the color. And the first step in cyanotype toning is bleaching the material, which turns it yellow. So next time you accidentally oxiclean something, try dunking it in a bunch of coffee and you should change the print to black.

I took photography...they taught us how to make a pinhole camera. But a way to experiment further could be hanging the clothing in a black box and with doors you can expose each area for longer or less time. Using stencils you can use for easy design. But honestly...you are amazing. Wonderful thought process and inspiring me into ideas for sure. Just stunning

I think a good solution for the dark line across the tank top is a nice ribbon tie. It’s a very good placement for one! Embrace that line and decorate it!

I love this so much! My 10-year-old daughter is now also a big fan of your arts and experiments. Thank you so much!🌼🌿☘🍁🌿🌼

this would be fun to do for pillowcases, and if you felt bold enough: a thin blanket or sheet

This is interesting. There are so many questions. The more I think about this, the more questions I have. 1. Could you cut out your already washed fabric, top stitch all the edges, apply the chemicals, let the pieces dry flat, lay on the items you want to copy on to your fabric, place the pieces in the sun, then finish the process? 2, Could you use sun lamps? Would using sunlamps give you more control? 3. Will the fabric now fade faster with use and washing? 4. Will the chemicals speed up the decay process of the fibers in your garments? 5. Can you over dye your treated garments? 6. Will the dye change colors with age (like change from blue and white to brown and tan)? 7. Can you use this process on already dyed fabrics (like baby pink, or baby blue, etc.)?

This is lovely! If you want to make something that really feels like the terroir of your home, natural dyeing is so rewarding. Coming into fall now on the East Coast is a great time to collect nuts. Keep an eye out for black walnuts and acorns both are tanic dyes and long lasting on cotton with no mordant. If you add a mordant you can get different browns or even black! For black, I would choose an iron mordant. You can also dye with golden rod (bright yellow on wool and silk using alum mordant) which should be beginning to bloom any day now in nearby fields.

I absolutely love your trial and error format! It's so much more educational than the typical "this is how I make things come out perfectly the first time" videos. I have a set of these dyes in my stash, and now I'm inspired to dig them out and do something with them. I live in Israel and the sun here in the summer is BRUTAL. I'm sure I'll get nice crisp patterns as long as I do a test strip and get the timing right.

I love the white pleats that came on the dress- it totally reminded me of that 90's blue tie dye dress I had, and I miss that dress! Love your videos, they are so much fun and relaxing to watch- thank you for your hard work!

If you’re just wanting to retry, I’d suggest trying something like Rit dye remover. I used it to take the dye out of some hideously dyed raw silk I bought on clearance. I ended up with cream and apricot rather than screaming fuchsia and neon orange tourist Hawaiian prints.

I love doing cyanotype on fabric! I did a few wallets for a vendor event last year and the sold right away. I actually do wet cyanotype more often than dry and it works beautifully. (I wish I could add photos.) Wet cyanotype takes much less exposure time too, and you can add hydrogen peroxide to the rinse water to deepen the blue. It's important to note for people who aren't familiar with cyanotype that it isn't dyeing the fabric. The chemicals are oxidizing onto the fabric and if it isn't rinsed really well, the white areas will continue to oxidise over time with exposure to light, and with clothing items, washing with detergeants will remove the oxidation (as is the case with your beautiful dress.)

i would love to see you do this again if you dye a bunch of fabric and then make a dress, especially a victorian dress reform gown from when this technique was discovered!

Maybe cut out the fabric pieces and BEFORE sewing them together, do the cyanotype printing? You can then lay the pieces completely flat. Then after the printing, sew together the garment as usual. Thanks for the video.

This was so fun! Is it UV exposure that changes the dye? Because if so you could potentially get more consistent results using UV lamps that you can get for curing UV resin

That dress is gorgeous. Love the variations in the colours, beautifully random. Also loved the collar necklace…..so very pretty :)

I think it's funny that macrame is coming back. I remember making something at a girl scout camp a couple of years ago when I was 9. I very much liked it. My aunts house was full of hanging planters. :D The scarf is gorgeous and this is such a fun experiment. I love the dress! I went to Interior Design school and didn't know that about blueprints!

Such a fun experiment and excellent dress. Ferns are one of the oldest type of plants on the planet and make such a beautiful design. Wow, forest witch Morgan is a supercool look

I love these vids where you experiment with different fabrics/mediums/tools. They're so creative & interesting. The dress looks so nice. I really like the white "tiger stripes" a lot, I would have thought they were intentional

Idk why, but “you are my rock” and “you guys are my rocks” have very different vibes. “You are my rock.” - You keep me sane. You keep me on task and tethered to the world. “You guys are my rocks.” - I think y’all are super neat. Y’all make my life interesting and fun. I wish I could carry all of you in my backpack even though the camp counselors said take only pictures. I can’t be a patron, but I love seeing what new things you try every time you post! 💜

I completely love the white stripes because it makes it obvious that this wasn‘t a print before this dress was sewn and I think nowadays any hint of a custom piece makes people look twice! It would also be a beautiful way of incorporating pieces of lace that you don‘t have enough of for trim if you do single panels of the skirt before sewing them all together…I just love this project and instantly has a hundred ideas…if only it wasn‘t blue, it doesn‘t suit me as well as it does you! You look absolutely lovely and I adore those sleeves! ❤

Oh gosh, that looks like so much fun! I probably would have grabbed a dress and just stood out in the sun while wearing it for a while, just to have a pattern of what parts of the body get more or less exposed to light... And then spend several days washing the dye off of me because I wouldn't think to wear protective clothing under it. 😅

I love how the daisies turned out and I want to try this with tie-dye techniques so much. Also, that choker 😮

Wow, I appreciate you being bold in the name of art and science. Dying a new dress in a new method is rather brave! But I think it turned out pretty swell, you look lovely!

The 45-minute cloudy day test looks like it would make a fun lampshade

I love the final dress and the whole process was so much a fun to observe. Especially since I was sure you were going to dye your fabric and then make a dress out of it not dye an already made dress. I was wrong but it was a lovely surprise. Also the outcome gives of perfect 70's flower child's flower-die jean dress... chef's kiss As far as the washing miss-hap I wonder if setting the dye with heat would help? Either using an iron and pressing the shit out of the fabric after the whole dyeing and drying is over or throwing it in a wash on high temp with no detergent... A set stain is harder to get rid off and if you thing about it a dye is a sort of intentional stain :D

Absolutely love both dresses!!

A couple of quick thoughts: First, you can buy those little pop-up covers that you were talking about very cheaply. And in varying sizes actually - they’re just made regarding use. Second, I would be sorely tempted, even though I despise the day before 11 AM, to get outside at like, I don’t know, 3 AM, lay out the designs, and then reset the alarm for an hour after sunrise. I guess you have to cover it with a very dark thick fabric, or maybe two layers, but it would give you time and space to work. Just a thought. [OK, the garage is much cheaper and easier and smarter. I almost deleted the comment, but in case it’s helpful to somebody else I left it.] Last thought, you see the paler section on the scarf as a failure because it isn’t what you intended, but it just looked like a border to me.

If you choose to revisit this in the future, using a UV sensitive item of some sort to determine good areas to set up in would be a good idea. Something like the plastic from a blue lizard sunscreen bottle. You might also try a thin coat of black acrylic paint on flower petals to help even out the exposure time.

The fact that you can wash the dress in oxiclean and redo the pattern over and over again is so cool!! I could see myself changing it every few months with plants of the season (evergreens and Holly for winter, Easter flowers for spring ect) just to switch things up

This looks so cool!! Love the placement you chose for the dress and the tank top. Would love to see you try the pattern pieces exposed and then sewing!

Can I give you an 100 thumbs up for the laundry detergent tips and not giving up?! You go girl! Rocking that dress and hair!

Stunning! Just, wow!! LOVE this!

This came out great! The whole experiment reminded me a lot of my old photography class where we would use the typical traditional methods of developing photography and use objects to cast shadows - basically exactly like this but in a dark room setting. My favorite was always lace which would be gorgeous on a garment!

I've always loved the colour of cyanotypes, and it had never occurred to me that you could use the chemicals on fabric! What an fantastic idea! And I LOVE the results. Stunning!

I love all the science you do

This video just awoke a memory from my childhood, I've done this. I was around 8 and we did this to both t-shirts and different types of paper. We had made a bunch of paper with different materials prior to this so we used that, paper that we were given when visiting a local small paper factory that made oldschool textured paper and we used a bunch of modern types paper in different colours. I know I made a bunch of cards out of my paper. I loved doing things like this in school and still find these types of things so much fun both to learn about and do. Thanks to Morgan for always trying out anything and everything you find interesting and thank you for jolting a great memory to the surface.

I tried this a few months ago with fabric to make my own dress form, and the results are less than stellar. I’m going to try it again after washing it in some oxi clean! And after seeing your trials, I have a much better idea of how to do it successfully. Always a happy day when there’s a new MD video! :)

Thank you for teaching and experimenting for us!!

i agree! the redye with the old showing thru is super cool and gives a lot of texture and interest.

We love to see you do new things, Morgan! You're so creative and it's a joy to discover with you. Also, that dress is just perfection on you! So incredibly beautiful.

Question. If this dye is photo reactive, could you use lights boxes to get a more controlled exposure? Like, lay it out in the garage, get everything in place and blast it with a light box? It would be a constant light source. I know they do something similar in modern photography in a dark room. Just curious! Love the textile science! Keep it up! 🥰

I love your little flowers + sewing supplies exposures! so cute!

Amazing project 😊 can't wait to try this!

♡ love your attitude of exploration & adventure!

Definitely going to look into doing this, I love the denim tones of the blue. Regarding the photosensitivity, I wonder how many photography rules would apply here. Like for instance a dark room, usually the entrance to, will have 2 90degree turns, which prevents light pollution from lighted outer rooms in. Red light spectrum will not affect the silver photo paper, is there similar rule set to this? Lots of possible questions to be looked through. Loved to looks you created by the way!!! loved them all!

Wow, the final dress makes you look like a forest queen! I love all the experimenting you’ve been doing lately. You’ve inspired me to try out some of these new methods for myself!

Love love love this-have been wanting to play with it for a number of years but didn’t have the resources to do all this experimentation! Planning to work my fabric and then see the dress. FUN! Love the dress, too!

What a gorgeous outcome! Ty for sharing this different technique.

This is awesome! Also, I so see Morgan as a person who owns a metaphysical items/New Agey kind of shop someday where she includes these kinds of clothes in her product lines. :)

So super cool and creative 😎 I bet you could do a tye dye effect by twisting or knotting sections like sleeves or scarves. Such fun

I love the combination of science and history you've incorporated into your garment! Your videos are always so very interesting and entertaining!

Love this. Can't wait to try this process 👋❤️👋

This dress is magical! I love the stripes in the fern and the gradations. I love it.

Really, thank you for showing the struggles of this process too! This is absolutely something I’d have just dived into thinking I’d get something beautiful on my first go. This was massively educational and the results are so gorgeous! “Experimental, chaotic fun” is my love language.

I love all of your fashion experiments (and the fact that you test so many variables). The first version of the dress came out so well, but I adore the vibrant second exposure as well.

This was so much fun!

Also, if cyanotype + oxiclean consistently produces that particular color (at least on some fabrics), it could make an incredible autumn version. That would be a cool update, if you were interested!

So incredibly cool! I remember doing this experiment in art school and wanting to take it to the next level. Thank you for your willingness to take this project all the way with test runs, research, precision and redos. It's definitely a big undertaking, but also very compelling and creative. Beautiful results!

My sister had some of the photosensitive paper clear back in the 90's. I remember her playing with it a lot. I never imagined doing it with fabric! How cool!!!

This was one of your coolest projects! I adore the combination of creativity and expression with science and experimentation. The scarf and the final dress were both just so incredibly gorgeous and that particular shade of blue looks stunning on you!

Your adorable in everything you design, create and wear. You give all of us inspiration and new ideas to try. Thank you 🙏

Watching you experience with cyanotype was such a delight!! I’m a photography nerd and I’ve always wanted to try it. I might actually go and get what I need for it now ;)

Your finished items look great. I love your curiosity and that you share your experiments and finished products. Thank you!

I love the final result so much!