How to Make Baby Clothing Sun Prints

There is nothing as lovely as seeing your little baby in his/her baby clothes, a cute pink socks, some chino shorts and brightly designed cotton polo. In no distant time your baby will be all grown up. Your little boy or girl you once saw in cute baby clothes, will be dashing out of the house with a well cut suit or a dress complemented with some nice jewelry. Time does fly doesn't it?

Memories as they say are everything, so why not mold your memories into something bold yet subtle?

At this point it is important to know that to make sun print impressions on your babies fabric, the material needs to be cyanotype that is light sensitive. A cyanotype material is made into such by submerging  it into ammonium iron citrate (III) and potassium ferricyanide solution. When fabric saturated with this solution is exposed to sunlight, it reacts and displays a blue color - a magnificent indelible dye known as Prussian blue. These sorts of materials are readily sold in shops.

Making baby clothing sun prints is quite simple, and can be done by anyone, anywhere at any time, all you have to do is have the materials handy and follow the instructions provided below.

Materials for Baby Clothing Sun Prints

1. The baby clothes you wish to design

2. Leaves, fruits, shells…anything that would make a good design

3. A bowl of water and a bowl of ammonium iron citrate/potassium ferricyanide solution

4. A flat surface with which to place the clothes

5. Pushpins and thumbtacks or a plexiglass

6. A watch or timer

Steps to Make Baby Clothing Sun Prints

1. Make sure you put all materials in place, your design items most especially.

2. Submerge the fabric into the said solution to make it a cyanotype (light sensitive) material and place somewhere to dry. It will become light sensitive, so put it away from sunlight or any form of ultra violet ray. You wouldn't want any unwanted design.

3. Remove the cyanotype baby wear and place on a flat surface, using pushpins to secure it in position

4. Lay your design items on the baby clothes, a plexiglass might come in handy to hold them in place

5. Expose your work to sunlight for the recommended time. Cyanotype cotton will have to be exposed for 10-20 minutes; 5-20 minutes would suffice for cyanotype silk.

6. Rinse your cyanotype fabric in a bowl of water and remove, hold it out till the water runs clear, behold your design will graciously appear. You can dry the material outside; afterwards you may iron to remove any wrinkles it may have.

So there you have it, now you can enjoy the experience of making baby clothes sun prints yourself and preserve memories with unique designs.