Today I have the perfect little DIY project: it’s cheap, easy and old-school.

Sun prints!

Remember those blue pieces of paper you put in the sun and lay things on? In my first black and white class, our first project was the photogram. The process is nearly identical, the paper and developing solution is the only difference. I am actually going to show you how to do this both the old-school way by lying objects on the paper AND how to make a sunprint that actually looks, more or less, like a photograph. I’ve been using these as the CD jacket for my portrait clients, just for something different. This project is also good for kids. I do not have many tricks up my sleeve when it comes to entertaining children, but this happens to be one of them.

Here’s what you need:

•Sun print paper. I had a hard time finding this at any of the art supply stores in town and ordered online.

•A digital photo and the means to make it black and white, invert it, and print it off on regular computer paper.

•Objects to set on top of the paper. Objects of varying transparency tend to look a little better, just keep in mind if you use something solid all you’re gettin’ is the outline.

•Scotch tape

•Something flat and clear with a little weight to it. A piece of glass or plexi-glass is gonna be your best option. Don’t have any glass just lying around? Try using some from a picture frame. Just be careful of those sharp edges!

•A dish of water

First, for your sun print-photograph, select an image. Images high in contrast without tiny important details work best. Open the image in your photo-editing software and make it black and white. It’s also beneficial to increase the contrast pretty high. Next, invert your photograph so it looks like a negative. (In photoshop, on a Mac anyway, it’s command (apple) “i”). Then crop and re size the image to fit on your paper. I like to make it a little smaller than the paper so I can do some trimming and I don’t have to worry about the tape ripping off part of my final image.

©Laura Bute Photography

Next, tape the image to your glass with the image showing through on the other side, and tape a piece of sun print paper over it. If you are doing both kinds of sun prints at the same time, tape another piece of sun print paper to the glass.

I tape them both so nothing slips. ©Laura Bute Photography

For your photogram sunprint, have your items on hand. Lay the glass in the sun, and place your objects over the blank piece of sunprint paper. You could also do a combo and try placing objects over the one you are making with a print!

Lay in the sun. ©Laura Bute Photography

Let the paper lay in the sun for 10-20 minutes. You can pull back the sun print paper to check on it if you want. This is difficult if you have things laying on top of the glass, as you do not want to move them. Guesstimation is acceptable. It’s kind of trial and error.

While you are waiting, fill a dish that your paper will fit in with water.

Crumbs on the placemat under the dish do not effect the outcome. ©Laura Bute Photography

When you are done exposing the prints, take them off the glass and put them in the water. They really only need about 30 seconds.

Watch your sun print change! ©Laura Bute Photography

©Laura Bute Photography

Take them out and let them dry! Try not to rub or wipe anything across the print while it’s wet, it may smudge.

©Laura Bute Photography

The final outcome really gives ya that faded photograph look. ©Laura Bute Photography

Note that I somehow totally messed up my first photogram attempt, so I had to do a redo. This time I used dehydrated tomatoes! You can see where I tried to put feathers on there, but they blew away. Maybe feathers are good for indoors, or smashed in between the paper and the glass.

The tomatoes turned out to be a little more on the abstract side. Blue will darken as it it dries. ©Laura Bute Photography

The sun print paper is extremely thin, almost like newspaper. For my CD jackets I spray mount them onto card stock. Sounds difficult, it’s really not. Buy some spray mount and something to put it on, poster board or card stock or whatever else you have lying around. Follow the instructions on the can.