How to Create Sun Prints at Home | Utah Family Photographer | Whitney Beth Photography
 

Sun prints are such a fun way to explain how pictures used to be printed. I fell in love with making lumen prints when I was in school at UVU. Lumen prints differ slightly than sun prints in the materials you use. To make lumen prints you need actual photo paper make for the dark room and fixer -also used in the dark room. I had been looking for a way to make lumen prints with Jonesy without needing to haul out my whole dark room when I came across these sun prints on Amazon. The results are pretty close to lumen prints, but wayyyyyy easier and much more “kid friendly”

The kit comes with everything you need except for water and whatever you want to make prints out of. In the envelope you’ll find an acrylic plate and a blacked out, plastic envelope full of the special paper you’ll need. 

the first thing you’ll want to do is gather whatever materials or objects you want to make prints of. I may be biased, but I always think organic things work out the best. Make sure you have everything set up and ready. The paper will start developing the second it’s exposed to light. a helpful tip I have is to compose and lay everything out to the side of where you’ll be exposing your paper so you don’t have to waste time thinking of how you want things placed. 

Carefully lift the flap to the black envelope and take out a piece of paper - making sure to not expose the stack still tucked away. Next, quickly arrange your items on the paper and cover with the acrylic plate. The acrylic not only helps prevent the wind from interfering, but also allows for a crisp line along the edge of your object. Let the paper expose in the sun for 1 - 5 minutes. (We ended up making some that were exposed for 1, 3 and 5 minutes.) Be careful not to over expose it - leave it too long in the sun.

Once it has been exposed, rinse it off under water for one minute.

Lay flat to dry, and you’re done! As it dries, it will become more blue and start to curl a bit at the ends - nothing a little time under a book can’t fix!

And there you have it! Jones loved making these sun prints and it was fun to be able to explain how light exposes all the places that weren’t covered up by something. That’s the same way photos used to be printed in the darkroom with negatives. Let me know if you end up making any! I’m thinking of framing these for the boys’ rooms!