KYANOS

Hydra

Kyanos — a sun-printing studio and living herbarium on the island of Hydra

Sheet Nº 4 813 · Cotton rag, 300 g/m² · Coated at first light

A sun-printing studio and living herbarium on the island of Hydra.

Move the light slowly across the sheet Drag a finger across the sheet — you are the sun

0% exposed

Pl. 000 Exposed by you, . It is drying on the line in Folio III.

Folio ILight

Everything the light touched turned blue. Everything that stood in its way, we kept.

Kyanos takes its name from κυανός, the Greek for a deep blue. We are a sun-printing studio above the harbour on Hydra, making cyanotypes the way they were first made in 1842 — iron salts, cotton paper, a quarter of an hour of Aegean sun — and we keep every plate we have ever exposed.

There is no lens and no retouching. A leaf lies on the paper, the sun does the rest, and water decides what stays.

  1. 1842

    Sir John Herschel finds that iron salts, left in sunlight, turn a lasting Prussian blue.

  2. 1843

    Anna Atkins lays seaweed on sensitised paper and makes the first book illustrated with photographs.

  3. 2014

    Kyanos opens a room above the harbour and pegs its first plate to the line.

Folio IIProcess

Five steps, one sun.

I · Coat Pl. 1205 — on the table now

  1. Coat

    Ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanide, mixed one to one under a dim bulb and brushed onto cotton rag in two crossing coats. The sheet dries in the dark.

    25 % + 10 % · two coats · 30 min in the dark

  2. Compose

    Specimens are laid face down and pressed under glass. Whatever is opaque will print white; whatever lets light through prints a shade in between.

    4 mm float glass · a contact print, no lens

  3. Expose

    Out into the sun. The yellow-green coat greys toward slate, then bronze at the edges. We read the colour, not the clock.

    8–20 min · UV index 7 or more

  4. Wash

    Running water carries off the iron that never saw light, and bare paper appears wherever the sun was blocked. A drop of hydrogen peroxide calls the blue up early.

    5 min running water · 3 % H₂O₂

  5. Dry

    The print hangs on the line for a day while the blue oxidises to its full depth. Nothing is retouched and nothing is thrown away.

    24 h on the line · then filed in the herbarium

Folio IIIHerbarium

The drying line.

Every plate we expose is kept. These are the latest, still pegged where they dried. The first one is yours.

1204 plates since 2014

  • Pl. 000 Your exposure Today · Hydra
  • Pl. 1204 Adiantum capillus-veneris Maidenhair fern 11′ 40″ · 09·IX·2026
  • Pl. 1203 Daucus carota Wild carrot, Queen Anne’s lace 14′ 00″ · 04·IX·2026
  • Pl. 1202 Ginkgo biloba Maidenhair tree 9′ 30″ · 29·VIII·2026
  • Pl. 1201 Taraxacum officinale Dandelion clock 12′ 10″ · 22·VIII·2026
  • Pl. 1199 Dictyota dichotoma Forked seaweed, after Anna Atkins 16′ 20″ · 14·VIII·2026
  • Pl. 1198 Briza maxima Greater quaking grass 10′ 05″ · 07·VIII·2026
  • Pl. 1196 Dryopteris filix-mas Male fern 13′ 45″ · 30·VII·2026
  • Pl. 1195 Centaurea cyanus Cornflower — named for κυανός 11′ 00″ · 24·VII·2026
  • Pl. 1193 Larus michahellis Primary feather, yellow-legged gull 8′ 15″ · 16·VII·2026

Meltemi from the north, force 4 · everything on the line is dry by evening

Folio IVSessions

Sun sessions, on Sundays.

Eight people at one long table, a morning of sun, and prints you carry home still damp. Paper, chemistry, glass and coffee are on us.

  1. First light Coating, composing and a morning of exposures, for anyone who has never printed. 3 h 6 of 8 free Reserve
  2. Tea, wine & soda Toning prints warm and dark in black tea, red wine and washing soda. 4 h 2 of 8 free Reserve
  3. Digital negatives From a photograph on your phone to a film negative to a print in the sun. 5 h Waiting list Join list
  4. Printing the island A day on the coast path with a portable press, seawater for the wash. Full day 4 of 8 free Reserve

From November to March we open by appointment. The sun sits lower, exposures run longer and the tea gets stronger.