Rust-dyeing experiments

Last weekend, I tried my first experiment with rust-dyeing, but the results were disappointing -- hardly any rust! So I washed the fabric and put aside the metal objects. I looked at the metal on Friday and realized it had grown some rust! So I put everything together again - dampened fabric, metal objects, salt, vinegar... even put a heavy object on top to increase contact between the metal and the fabric. About 18 hours later, here is what I have so far:

As you can see from the second shot, the chain wins the rust award! Everything else is just incidental, but I have put the objects in a container with water, vinegar and salt in the hope they will grow even rustier. I was really hoping for more from the chicken wire, and may try wrapping fabric around a pvc pipe and wrapping the chicken wire around that. Meanwhile, the fabric has been wrapped shibori-style around a rusty piece of rebar in the hopes I can do even more! Stay tuned for updates.

Meanwhile, I went on a leaf-hunt in the yard, and came up with several specimens I plan to use for screening on fabric later:

Some of these are from cultivated plants, but several are wild. I can't wait to see how they screen!

It's never too late...

August 23, 2007 - Awhile back, I took a week-long art course at our local community college. Among other things, the teacher introduced us to basic screen-printing, mono-printing, creating and using stamps, discharge dyeing and using soy wax as a resist. I posted some pictures at the end of the class to show a little about what I learned. Meanwhile, I got busy at home and started experimenting with what I had learned... mostly in the areas of screen-printing and soy wax. Here are some samples of what I have accomplished so far:

In this example, I created a screen of the owl, printed a blank shirt, colored the owl with thickened dyes, then waxed over the image. I then used Low Water Immersion to dye the background.















Below is a design where I used a stamp to apply dishwasher gel with bleach to a pre-dyed shirt.









In this example, I traced a design on an undyed shirt, waxed over the design, dyed the background using LWI, washed the shirt, re-soaked in soda ash, then painted the sunburst with thickened dyes.


















Here is another example where I traced a design on an undyed shirt, waxed over, used LWI to dye the background, washed, then painted the image with thickened dyes.






















I feel like I have reached a turning point in my creative life... not the first time this has happened, but it's been awhile! I will post more pictures as I continue my new adventure...