Since the Fire blog just included a segment on rust dyeing
in October, I have only a little to add here about the rust dyeing process.
In my experience, successful rust dyeing requires warm to
hot temperatures to speed up the rusting reaction. When I tried rust dyeing in
the past during the fall and winter, I was unsuccessful and got little reaction.
Since I had a very busy summer this year, I did not have the time to
create the rust dyed shibori samples I needed for these blog postings. Given
that, I had to resort to some other methods of supplying the heat that was
necessary for the rusting reaction.
First, I decided to create some arashi and itajime samples using rusty cans and other objects
and then steam them in a large pot over boiling water. The steam would supply the heat and moisture that is usually present in the rusting reaction.That method led to mixed
results which I will discuss in a later post.
The second method involved rolling the fabric on rusty
pipes. I then put the manipulated fabric into separate plastic bags and put the
bags, on a metal tray, into my oven along with a bottle of hot water. I kept
the oven turned off, but left the oven light on. The fabric stayed in the warm
oven for 3 days. (This is the same method I use for batching fabric that I have
printed with thickened dye, although then the batching period is only 24 hours.)
The plastic bags kept the fabric moist, and the heat from the oven was enough
to create the rusting reaction. This method was more successful than the first
one .
I did not try itajime shibori using my second method since I
didn’t have any rusty objects that I could use for the clamping process.
With both methods, I experimented with different wetting
liquids to create the rusting process, and I will discuss these in my next
post.
Cool!
ReplyDeleteOver here some of the artists wrap the damp/wet items in plastic and batch them wrapped in an electric blanket. Especially helpful for this kind of work done on a retreat or weekend course because the process can proceed further than it would under normal circumstances. And thus students can get an idea of what results could be.
Sandy in the UK
Thanks for the write up. Here in the South we have only a few cold days here and there. I'll not plan on experiments during the colder days. Although, after reading Sandy's comment, I'm having thoughts of my pizza stone sitting on top of the heating pad ...
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