Turmeric Prints

12/04/2026:

This is a new craft. I do have a list of Work In Progresses (WIPs) that I'm working through that this isn't on, but that's OK because it's from another list of mine: Things I Must Try Before Leaving this Sunny Place. 

I have some experience with cyanotypes which are these blue (cyan) prints made with the sun. 

1. Mix reactive chemicals in the dark then paint your paper or fabric with the mixture. 
2. Place anything you like on top and the inverse you leave behind will react with the sun and darken. 
3. Leave in the sun or under a UV light and the print will work it's magic.  

From what I know about turmeric prints, is that it works much the same, instead of chemicals A and B needed for cyanotypes, turmeric prints only want you to mix turmeric with rubbing alcohol then after you've made your print, to wash it with water and cornstarch (to slow the reaction so your print can last after you've finished). 

That's the shopping list, then: turmeric (kinda crucial), rubbing alcohol and cornstarch (this step may be optional, do we risk it?)

I'll update this post once I've got the stuff and I'll post pictures of what I make flop or success either way. 

13/04/2026:

Haul! 

I got the stuff. 

I already have a large flat-ish dish that I'll be able to wash the prints in afterwards. And I already have cups that I can use to put the turmeric/ rubbing alcohol mixture in. I think I'll also be able to find my biggest flat head brush to paint broad strokes on to the paper. If, not I might smudge it on to the paper with my gloves. 

15/04/2026:

Upon further research, these types of prints can also be called Turmeric Anthotypes and it is recommended to filter the turmeric. I hadn’t planned to originally, so I was going to do a version with and without the grit but then I ran out of mixture because I only wanted to do a small run. 

The sun disappeared just as I started, which is ok because it meant that I didn’t have to to draw the blinds in order to place my objects and the reaction didn’t start until I was ready. I will leave them until tomorrow when the sun will come out again, and then I will check in on them after a few hours of exposure.

Through my limited research I noticed it is quite popular to make both cyanotypes and Anthotypes with flowers and greenery and botany. I quite like using found objects, which is what I’ve done today.

16/04/2026:

We left the Anthotypes all day until sundown and the bright yellow faded until it was almost invisible, especially on the pages that had less mixture. As the sun moved, I tried my best to move the prints too, so they could have the most exposure as possible and that that exposure was even. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the silhouettes left behind were strong. The object that impressed Elena and me the most was the pair of scissors, I don't know how it worked, because I thought they were completely opaque, but it looks like the Anthotype managed to catch the depth of the handles. 

The nerve-wrecking part was rinsing them (to finalise the process, so they develop less from now on). I chose to use a slightly smaller tub for ease. This meant that instead of rinsing the pages, I was able to submerge them briefly until I was sure that the mixture had covered all of the surfaces. 

Through my research, I found that several successes were found with baking powder instead of cornstarch. In my primitive exploration, it seemed at first probe that it's because they both have cornstarch in them, but also baking powder works as a leavening agent - perhaps this also changes the results, I am expecting the prints to change colour or maybe darken to an orange or red. 

I won't know the difference because just before preparing the cornstarch and water mixture, I realised that the box of cornstarch I bought appears to be cake mixture for flans and custards. I was aware of this on the box, but I thought that you could simply make flans and custards with cornstarch and the recipes on either side of the box were just a selling point. 

It's OK, we nipped down to the shops to grab the baking powder and all was recovered. 

All papers have been treated now and are carefully drying, hopefully the sun will have them dry by this time tomorrow.

It's so lovely to be a sunny place like this. 

P.S. Don't worry about the flans and custards, hopefully they won't go to waste and Elena will have the opportunity to bake them. 

18/04/2026:

The results are in!

All papers have some of the mixture appearing on the other side. I don't know how lightfast they are and am apprehensive about hanging them. 

As you can see from the images above, I did four prints. 

1. Sweets - very faint designs, but with intense focus you can make out the intention

2. Pins Wheel and coin - the design is far darker, especially from the circles

3. Scissors and Misc. - there are parts inside the silhouettes that are actually lighter than the background so you can see them really well

4. The Blotting Paper - wasn't originally created to be part of this run, but it caught some of the mixture when saving the desk and the objects that were placed on it came out strong. The background is very faint unlike the others and the objects turned dark orange.