Botanical Wreath Sun Prints
With the dog days of summer in full swing, I wanted to explore some outdoor activities with my little ones that captured the full potential of this sun-drenched season. Always keen for an adventure in nature, off we went foraging for leaves, vines, and other botanical bits that had interesting shapes, silhouettes, or textures. When we returned home, our baskets were overflowing with an abundance of assorted greenery with pretty plants like ferns, clovers, and jasmine vines—a wonderful summer medley for making wreaths.
Though botanical wreaths are beautiful on their own, I thought it'd be nice to preserve this warm-weather memory in photographic form, so that later we might look back on some fonder moments from this summer in quarantine. And having recently made sun prints for Hunker, I knew these wreaths would make a beautiful subject. Depending on how you arrange them, their outlines can have crisp lines that show a lot of the various plant textures, or you can create a more ethereal, soft focus effect by layering and overlapping the plants on top of each other. Either way, you're left with gorgeous artwork that you can display in your home, or give as gifts to others.
It's a simple project and a very kid-friendly summer activity to fill all this time we're spending at home these days. Plus, it's a great introduction into film photography on a very basic level, as the principles of exposure and composition are very much in play. I put together a video that takes you through the process, or you can also read my step- by-step tutorial on Hunker here.
TIPS & TRICKS
For sharp focus prints, select only a few small clippings for your wreath. Keep the arrangement sparse, and try not to overlap the plants too much. For softer, more ethereal-looking prints, layer and overlap larger plants on top of each other.
The longer you leave your sun print paper exposed to the sun (five minutes or so), the darker blue it'll turn once you rinse it. Conversely, if you want lighter blue prints, only expose the print for a minute—or you can even expose indoors near a sunny window.
Most sun print paper is sold in kits that come with the paper and a clear acrylic sheet that holds your subjects in place during the exposure. However, you could also use the glass insert from a picture frame if your kit doesn't happen to come with one.