Gather some interesting objects, for example: Leaves, flowers, keys, paper clips, jewelry and so on. Paper cut outs, silhouettes, lace or thin fabrics . Images drawn on, printed out or copied onto clear transparent acetate sheets. Photographic negatives or x-rays . Anything that makes an interesting image when light shines through it! Wait for a sunny or mostly sunny day. Remove paper from black bag. Do not remove in bright sun light. Remove only the paper needed. Place the rest back into bag and close securely. Store in dark, cool place.
Place paper in the sun and quickly lay object on top. Do not disturb or move objects while exposing. If the object or paper moves, the print will be blurry.
Tip: If it is windy, use a piece of clear glass or plastic to hold the object and paper in place when making a print.
The time needed to expose the print depends on the strength of the sun. (Summer sun is stronger than winter sun. Sunlight on a sunny day is stronger than a partly sunny day). For a deep, rich blue print expose on a sunny day for 10-15 minutes, and on a partly sunny day or sunny winter day for 15-25 minutes. To expose the back side of the paper, ip over quickly, lay objects on top, and expose for the same time as the first side.
After paper is exposed, develop it by rinsing both sides of the paper under cold running water for a few minutes, until the water runs clear. The print will appear and will brighten as paper dries. Lay on dry paper towel to absorb water. Change paper towel after 15 minutes. Dry until just damp, changing paper towel again, if needed. Stack prints with paper towels in between and place lightweight book on top of them as they dry. This will help prevent curling.
Sunography paper is 100% cotton, watercolour paper. Once exposed and developed, the print will withstand additional tinting or colouring. While natural color of the printed paper is a rich blue, this can be altered in a few ways. First by painting or drawing directly onto the print with paint, pencils or markers. Secondly by tinting the paper. To do this, remove the blue tone from the paper by giving it a cold water bath with a detergent containing phosphates. (1 quart of water with 2 teaspoons of detergent/1 liter of water with 10 ml of detergent). Leave print in bath for at least 5 minutes. The phosphate will remove blue tone from print. Remove and rinse thoroughly. With the blue gone, the light coloured print can now be tinted to a sepia-like print by using a bath of strong black tea.