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An anniversary tradition
Jun. 2nd, 2026 09:51 amDenise and I celebrated our 35th anniversary yesterday. As is our custom, we spent the day doing an art project, this time, something I learned from Instagram: solar printing with turmeric.
The process is actually pretty simple: mix turmeric with isopropyl alcohol (93%) at a ratio of 1:4--I did one tablespoon of turmeric to four tablespoons alcohol. Brush the mixture over sheets of paper, in this case, 9x12" mixed media drawing paper, 70# weight. Allow to dry--fairly quickly, I'd fired a bisque kiln the previous night, and the studio was warm. Dust off any loose granules of turmeric, and you're ready to go.
Arrange various items on your page to block the sunlight in interesting patterns. If you use pressed leaves, you'll need to weigh them down with a sheet of glass. Otherwise, you can tape the corners of your page to a board so the wind doesn't mess up your art, then put your shadow-makers in place.
Take them outside and leave them in bright sunshine for an hour.
Bring everything back indoors and remove your resist items. You can already see that the exposed turmeric has faded considerably. This will continue if you don't fix the image, which you do with a baking soda bath. I mixed two tablespoons of baking soda with two cups of warm (90° F) water. Poured into a 9x13" cake pan, this made just enough to bathe and fix four prints.
The baking soda bath will also change the color of the image, making it darker and redder. It's a gorgeous process, and I suspect we'll be doing it again, possibly even teaching a session at our book group.
The process is actually pretty simple: mix turmeric with isopropyl alcohol (93%) at a ratio of 1:4--I did one tablespoon of turmeric to four tablespoons alcohol. Brush the mixture over sheets of paper, in this case, 9x12" mixed media drawing paper, 70# weight. Allow to dry--fairly quickly, I'd fired a bisque kiln the previous night, and the studio was warm. Dust off any loose granules of turmeric, and you're ready to go.
Arrange various items on your page to block the sunlight in interesting patterns. If you use pressed leaves, you'll need to weigh them down with a sheet of glass. Otherwise, you can tape the corners of your page to a board so the wind doesn't mess up your art, then put your shadow-makers in place.
Take them outside and leave them in bright sunshine for an hour.
Bring everything back indoors and remove your resist items. You can already see that the exposed turmeric has faded considerably. This will continue if you don't fix the image, which you do with a baking soda bath. I mixed two tablespoons of baking soda with two cups of warm (90° F) water. Poured into a 9x13" cake pan, this made just enough to bathe and fix four prints.
The baking soda bath will also change the color of the image, making it darker and redder. It's a gorgeous process, and I suspect we'll be doing it again, possibly even teaching a session at our book group.
