Musical Accompaniment: Viva la Vida performed by Trio Marimberos
I had a Mugshot March post all queued up to go this evening, but at the last minute, I decided to swap and share this photograph from 1900 instead.
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
The picture was taken by Clarence Hudson White and it’s calling Blowing Bubbles, for rather obvious reasons! Blowing bubbles is one of those childhood activities that’s never lost its charm for me.
The bluish color is because the photograph is cyanotype, which is a photographic printing formulation that produces monochrome blue colors.
I hope your week is off to a wonderful start! Spring is in the air!
old spirituals 
All types of bubbles fascinate children. In 1970, Wham-O marketed Super Elastic Plastic Bubble. The toy consisted of a tube of viscous plastic with a narrow plastic straw. A pea size gob of the plastic is placed on the end of the straw and air blown into the opposite end of the straw creates a plastic bubble. The toy is continues to be sold on Amazon.
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Whoa! I just get regular bubbles from the store when I see them for sale. The liquid is sticky and soapy.
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Bubbles, kites, ahh, the joys of childhood! That’s a sweet photograph. Little brother watching big sister blow the bubble as large as she can until it bursts! Cyanotype is really pretty. I buy treated fabric and lay items, especially leaves, on the fabric when the sun is straight over head. It only takes a few minutes to get that beautiful blue and the shape of the leaf is outlined and is a pale bluish white.
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That’s so neat! You brush on the cyanotype and then let the sun develop it? That sounds easy enough for even me to try!
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You can buy pre-treated fabric on Dharma.com and Amazon. All you do is take one piece of the fabric (in a dark room) and lay your items on it, then take it out into the sun around noon. The sun will make the cyanotype develop. I think there are chemicals you can buy to treat your fabric, but the pre-treated fabric is easiest. You can buy colors other than blue, too.
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You know there are a few silent movies that have blue scenes. Probably the most famous example is the cabinet of Dr Caligari. I wonder if they used cyanotype to treat them?
You can see an example at the 22:34 mark
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Or filmed through a blue tinted lens? I’m surprised Hitchcock didn’t do some filming in blue. He was influenced by German filmmakers and spent time there before the War.
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He did a little bit in Vertigo, didn’t he? Isn’t Hitchcock magnificent? I’ve been watching his tv series and it’s wonderful!
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I love Hitchcock! My favorite movie is Rear Window. I don’t remember if he used cyanotype in Vertigo. I was so busy enjoying the sights of San Francisco!
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I saw vertigo for the first time last year. What a wonderful movie!
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I’m curious about this! Can you buy cyanotype at Home Depot or is it like a craft store?
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I know the pre-treated fabric can be purchased on Amazon or Dharma. com. It’s fun to do. The fabric has to be kept out of the light before you use it or it will start the developing process.
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