Join Diane Sidener for an all-levels Cyanoptyping on Fabric (or Paper) workshop!
Bring interesting flat objects and your own fabrics to create images for later use in your own projects. Cyanotypes are a form of what photographers call “contact printing” meaning that we’ll lay objects directly on treated fabrics and then expose them in the sun, creating photograms–actual photos. The instructor will have some dried, pressed leaves, a couple of large-scale negatives, and pieces of lace to use, but bring your own—the flatter the better! Ideas: lace, doilies, stencils, pressed leaves or flowers, filigree, buttons, keys. Don’t be timid–cyanotypes on not-too-darkly colored and/or patterned fabrics can be gorgeous! We’ll have time to treat some fabrics but will have plenty of pre-treated fabric, both plain and patterned. During the workshop we’ll plan designs first on treated papers then cyanotype those designs with instructor-supplied and your own treated fabrics.
There will not be a focus on images from negatives, but if you want to work from negatives, contact [email protected] for further information from the instructor.
Levels: All skill levels welcome!
Date and Time: Satuday May 16, 2026 from 12pm – 4pm
(rain date scheduled for Saturday, May 23, 2026)
Supplies:
- Objects to cyanotype: pressed leaves and flowers, stencils, doilies, lace, buttons, keys–the flatter the better, if you want a crisp image.
- Optional: Bring your own fabric pieces (no larger than 15″ by 20″): cottons, silks, rayons, woolens will all cyanotype. For fabrics heavier than quilting cotton, bring to the Guild house one week before and Diane will treat them so they’ll be ready on the day. Please do not drop off any later than the morning of May 9, 2026. Label with your name and that they’re for the cyanotype workshop so they don’t get confused with FiberPalooza donations!
Instructor Bio:
Diane Sidener enjoyed a career as a folklorist but has always made art, and currently cyanotypes on both fabric and paper. With a love of nature and color, she works primarily with leaves, combining cyanotypes on fabric with colorful, patterned fabrics to create quilts, pillows and bags, or cyanotypes on paper with colorful art papers, creating matted and framed works, cards, and collages. She shows her work and teaches cyanotyping at a variety of locations around the Delaware Valley, and plans her life around walks in the woods with her dogs who are patient when she stops to pick leaves and flowers–and sunny days to cyanotype them (the leaves, not the dogs)!
Cyanotyping on Fabric (or Paper) w/ Diane Sidener (Spring 2026)