sunprints for a sunny day.

Sometimes you just have to make yourself do something. You have an idea, or the memory of an idea, and you say: Oh, I should find the time to do that again. What fun that would be. Next time I have a spare twenty minutes…

And then another day slips by and you’ve spent twenty minutes lolling on your bed scrolling through Instagram and you wonder what in heaven’s name your life has come to and who are you anyway.

But then you pass by your favorite little shop for kids in the neighborhood and you spot the supplies for the very project you’ve had on your mind and so you count out your pennies and stick the little package into your bag next to the computer you’re supposed to be typing away on, and then you’re one step closer. 

Suffice to say, I boought my little squares of photographic sunprint paper and saved them for a sunny day. 

When we were at my parents’ house for a whirlwind visit this weekend, I gathered bits of botanical good stuff from their yard and set to work. My three-year-old nephew was in town, and so while Faye was more content to scoot herself around on the red toy car at Grammy’s house, Oliver was my little sunprint buddy.

Instructions come with the kit, but the process is simple: 

1. Place your blue photographic paper on a piece of cardboard, blue side up.
2. Press your collected items beneath the acrylic sheet that comes with the sheet. 
3. Place in a sunny spot until the paper turns light bluish white (1-5 minutes depending on cloud cover).
4. Dip the paper in water and let it dry in the sunshine. (Once dry, I tucked my sheets between pages of a book for flattening and safe-keeping on the train ride home.)
5. Hang somewhere pretty, stick it on the fridge, stick it in an envelope and mail it to yer grandpa, etc.

I found my Sunprint Kit locally at Acorn Toy Shop. (Replacement paper and pre-treated fabric also available!)