Introduction

We chose to do this project because it has not been done before in Dr. Bordley’s Chemistry and Art class. After talking with local Sewanee artist Diane Getty, we became interested in the relationship between Setacolor™ paints, their dilution and the fabrics used.

Background

Sunprinting can also be called heliography; “helios meaning sun, and graphein denoting writing or drawing” (The First Photograph: Heliography). In the early 19th century, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce was the first successful sunprinter. Sunprinting “consists in capturing a photonegative image on fabric with one or more washes of light-sensitive water-based paint. As a precursor to photography, sunprinting was used to capture images of plants for botanical research” (The Art of Erin Lale). The invention of photography nearly eradicated sunprinting—it now exists for artistic purposes rather than practical.

Purpose

To determine the effects of varying fabrics and dilutions in sunprinting

Hypothesis

We predict that the “best” fabric will be 100% polyester and that the “best” dilution will be 100% paint with no water added.
By “best” we mean which fabric and dilution delivers the most “whited-out” areas beneath the sunblockers.

Procedure

Materials

2 yards of 100% polyester white fabric
2 yards of 100% cotton white muslin fabric
100% cotton white computer paper
handmade blue handmade paper composed of 100mL abaca fibers and 50mL denim cotton linters with 3 drops of sizing. ** used for enhancements, not in regular procedures
3 paintbrushes
3 jars of setacolor paints: blue, fuchsia and lime green
1 box of toothpicks used as sunblockers
1 bag of foam stars used as sunblockers
1 500mL beaker full of tap water
stopwatch
graduated cylinder
iron
3 paint trays
various objects to weigh down fabric and paper samples while drying in the sun
colorimeter
spray bottle full of tap water

We kept the amount of paint (12mL) constant throughout the experiment.

1. Take colorimeter readings of polyester fabric, cotton muslin fabric and cotton computer paper.
2. Cut fabric into 8x8 squares. Keep computer paper in original 8x10 dimensions
3. Lay the squares on level ground. Weigh down with various objects to keep them from blowing away.
4. Spray all with water using spray bottle until moist.
5. Apply paint to samples: apply blue to 1 square of each material; apply lime green to 1 square of each material; apply fuchsia to 1 square of each material
6. Immediately place sunblockers randomly onto all painted materials and begin stopwatch. Wait for constant time interval.
7. After 25 minutes, take material out of the sunshine and immediately heat set with an iron for 5-6 minutes per sample.
8. Take colorimeter readings of the darkest paint area and lightest “whited-out area” on each painted sample.

How to insert a scanned image: The best way is probably to use a table (see Observations below) and then insert the images into the table, clicking on the cell in the table where the image is to go and then using Insert -> Image. However, you can just Insert an image wherever you want. It is best to make the image the size you want before you insert it into Dreamweaver, i.e., in Photoshop determine the size of each image.

Observations

4-25-05
Location: In front of Woods Lab
Weather conditions: sunny
Sun exposure time: 25 minutes
Dilution: 100% paint
the paint goes on very thick
easier to paint on polyester than on cotton muslin
easier to paint on fabric than on paper
some foam stars blow off due to wind
cotton muslin seems to be working best when checked before 25 minutes is up
paint swatches look darker on the polyester than on the cotton muslin and on cotton computer paper

Location: In front of Woods Lab
Weather conditions: sunny
Sun exposure time: 25 minutes
Dilution: 12mL paint, 15mL water
the darkest sample is the blue on cotton muslin
the green is gritty on both fabrics but not on cotton computer paper
the green seems to be drying faster than the other colors

4-26-05
No testing due to inclement weather

4-27-05
Location: Intramural sports field behind Gorgas and Quintard dorms
Weather conditions: mostly cloudy, very windy
Sun exposure time: 25 minutes
Dilution: 12mL paint, 30mL water
paints are a lot thinner when water is added
paint especially looks thinner on the polyester
paint looks less vivid on polyester than on cotton muslin
green paint on all materials almost looks colorless
wind blows stars and toothpicks off and blows materials around, especially computer paper
computer paper takes a really long time to dry
paint solution gathers in puddles in random spots on the computer paper

4-28-05
Location: In front of Woods Lab
Weather conditions: overcast, windy
Sun exposure time: 25 minutes
Dilution: 12mL paint, 60mL water
paint solution puddles on computer paper like yesterday
paint solution is very watery; looks like colored water, not watered-down paint
wind blows stars off of materials
wind blows paint solution around on computer paper
green is very, very colorless, faint—more so than blue and fuchsia

Data

Conclusions

Differences in project proposal and in final project:
In our original project plan we proposed to look at more variables, such as sun exposure time and types of sunlight. On the first day of testing, we chose to keep the time interval at 25 minutes for the entire project. We also found out that the UV box we wanted to use was not going to fit our purposes, as we would have had to turn the samples upside down and thus get paint on the UV bulbs, making a huge mess. We also decided to use handmade paper only for “fun” purposes in enhancements. Instead of mixing the colors, we decided to use only one paint per sample; we did mix paint for “fun” purposes in enhancements just to see what the samples would look like. Halfway through the experiment we decided that the 100% Cotton Computer Paper was not a suitable material for our sunprinting purposes because it didn’t absorb water well, the water puddled and as a result the wind blew these puddles around and skewed our results. Because of this, we are only considering 100% Cotton Muslin and 100% Polyester fabrics in our results.

Conclusions:
We determined that the “best” fabric depends on the dilution of the paint. Samples that were painted with 100% paint (12mL) returned the best results with the 100% Cotton Muslin fabric on all colors. When 15mL of water was added to the same volume of paint, the 100% Cotton Muslin fabric again returned the best results, but only in the blue and fuchsia samples, not in the green sample. When we added 30mL to the same volume of paint (12mL) 100% Polyester fabric returned the best results, but only in the blue and fuchsia samples, not in the green sample. In our last trial, we added 60mL of water to the same volume of paint (12mL) and found that the 100% Polyester fabric still returned the best results in the fuchsia and green samples, not in the blue sample.
In conclusion, we found that 100% Cotton Muslin fabric works best with paint taken straight from the bottle or with only a small amount of water added to the paint. As the amount of water added is increased, the “best” fabric changes to 100% Polyester.

Enhancements

We used the paint on handmade paper and exposed it without any sunblockers on a cloudy day. We used more than one color of paint and added no water (just 12mL paint).
We also used all three paint colors on 1 swatch of 100% polyester and 1 swatch of 100% cotton muslin. We used a dilution of 12mL paint, 30mL water and it was a cloudy day.
We did not take colorimeter readings for any of our enhancements because we did them just to see what it would look like to combine more than one paint color. Local artist Diane Getty almost always uses more than one paint color because it makes her artwork much more interesting.

References

“The Art of Erin Lale.” Boheme Magazine Online. Nov. 2003 ed. 30 Apr 2005 <http://www.boheme-magazine.net/php/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=102>.

“The First Photograph: Heliography.” Harry Ransom Center Online Exhibition. April 2005. U of Texas at Austin. 30 Apr. 2005 <http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/exhibitions/permanent/wfp/5.html>.

Johnston, Ann. Color by Accident. Lake Oswego: Ann Johnston, 1997.

Lawler, Mickey. Skydyes. Lafayette: C & T Publishing, 1999.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Diane Getty, Dr. John Bordley and Syeda Hamadani