Introduction: Unusual Shibori Techniques

Greetings!  I am Diane Franklin, a fiber artist and dyer from Boston. I‘m also the author of Dyeing Alchemy, an e-book primer and workbook focusing on Procion dyeing. During the month of November, I am going to focus on snow-dyed shibori and rust-dyed shibori. Both methods allow you to get shibori effects using less traditional shibori techniques.

Way back at the beginning of the year, I wrote 3 blog posts on Procion dyeing by weight vs. volume. In those posts, I discussed a series of experiments that compared the results when dye was measured vs. weighed. You can review those posts here.

In my final post in January, I mentioned that I generally work with 5% dye concentrates rather than with dye powders. Doing so allows me to mix a variety of colors of dye from 3 primaries and sometimes black or brown. Before moving onto a discussion of the unusual shibori methods I just mentioned, in my next post, I will explain how to mix and use these concentrates since they will be used for snow-dyed shibori.

Rust Month Wrap-Up

Happy Halloween everyone! Today I wrap up my rust dyeing posts.  this month's posts have been an exceprt from my online video workshop Natural Dyeing With Rust.  In this workshop I cover another technique for creating rust dyed fabric.

Also, I have a free ebook, Working With Rust Dyed Fabrics available with some tips on working with your rust dyed fabrics.

And finally, a few more photos of rust and indigo blocks.

And lastly, a short promotional video for my workshop:

 Thanks to Beth and Judith for having me this month, and I look forward coming back again.

FAQ's and Quilt Blocks

It seems that I get asked the sames questions about rust dyeing fabric all the time.  So I thought I'd answer a few of them here.

• Is the rust dyed fabric archival?  NO!  Think about it, iron oxide is a corrosive and will eat away at metal.  Fabric is no match for it.  It will eventually eat away the fabric, but that can take a long time.  It depends on the fabric itself, how strong a layer or rust and other factors.      So if you want something that has the potential to be around for a very, very long time; rust dyed fabrics may not be the best choice. 

• How long does it take to rust the fabric?  This depends on several factors.  The rusty item you are using; what kind of shape is it in.  I've actually found that some metal pieces can be to rusted.  The rust actually forms a protective barrier and attempts to prevents  more rust from forming.  And the fabric plays a big part.  Along with the weather and humidity.  The rusting action happens quicker in warmer weather.

• What types of fabrics rust best?  I've had success with all kinds of fabrics, both natural and synthetic.  The only fabrics I've not had success with is fabric with a very thick pile and very slippery fabrics.

•  Can the rust be removed or discharged?  So far I've had no success either removing or discharging rust.

What To Do With Your Rust Fabric 

I've never had the courage to do anything with my rust fabric.  As QuiltSwissy says, it is beautiful all on its own.  But after a while you may want to do something more than stash in the closet.  Hers is what my friend did with some of my rust and indigo fabrics.

While they are a little traditional for me, I will admit my fabric looks good in these blocks.

Rust Dyed Fabric

Now that you know some basic rust dyeing techniques, lets take a look at a few finished pieces of fabric.  I did most of these pieces back in February, when the weather here was a little on the cool side.  But as you can see, rust does happen, even if it takes a little longer.

rusty rings on muslin

detail of rusty rings

details

details

more rings on muslin

detail of ring

rings and paint can lid on muslin

rings and lawn staples on denim

detail of denim

Rusty Waste Water Disposal

One of the drawbacks of Natural Dyeing With Rust is the amount of rusty waste water produced. The issue becomes how to safely dispose of this rusty water in an environmentally friendly way. After trying out many different things, here is what I've settled on and what works for me in my area.

What Works For Me

• Use several buckets for rinsing. The first rinse water will have a heavy concentration of rust. The subsequent rinses will be less contaminated.

• Dilute the rusty water with fresh water. You want it to be more clean water than rusty water.

• Pour the diluted water on a weed patch in the back alley. This patch of weeds is away from other ornamental plants and trees. I do this if I have a large amount of rusty waste water to dispose of.

• Or pour the diluted water down the drain. I will do this if I've done a small rusting session.

• Save some in plastic jugs for soaking fabric.

Here Is What I Don't Do

• Pour rusty water on ornamental or edible plants. The excess iron in the water will kill the plants. I know this from experience!

• Pour undiluted water down the drain. Not sure about this, but I don't want to introduce too much iron content into the municipal sewer system.

If you have a septic tank, you will want to research what problems introducing extra iron into the system will cause, if any.

This is what currently works for me, but I am always looking for better solutions. So if you have any suggestions, please share them with us.

Rinsing, Neutralizing and Washing

Now that your fabrics are perfectly rusted, you need to remove the excess iron oxide and neutralize the rusting action. But just a word, the rusting action never completely stops, but it can be slowed down with neutralizing.

Rinsing

• Fill several buckets with fresh water
• Dunk and swish around several times, removing as much of the rusty particles as possible (save this water for your rusty water solution)
• Move fabric to another bucket of clean water, dunk and swish some more
• Do this several times until the water isn't so brown

  
  

Neutralizing

 

• Move to another bucket and add Dawn dish detergent and approximately 1/2C baking soda to 1 gallon water

• Let sit several hours, occasionally dunking and swishing
  
  

Washing

• Wash on a normal cycle using hot water.

• If the fabric is heavily rusted, do a second rinse, adding a little more baking soda

• Dry in dryer or hang outside to dry

I do a lot of natural rust dyeing and was concerned about damaging my washer or transferring rust to other laundry. So I purchased a second hand washer specifically for washing my dyed and rusted fabrics. Since I do so much, I could easily justify this expense.

If you have a HE washers, so I can't speak to how washing rusted fabrics might affect them.

If you are concerned about washing these fabrics in your washer, you may want purchase a used washer or take the fabrics to a laundry mat.

Pressing

After washing and drying, I like to give everything a good pressing. This is when I evaluate each piece and ask

• Am I happy with it

• Could it use another go round of rusting

• If I wrapped it the first time, but there isn't much texture, would wrapping it again improve it

• If I wrapped it the first time, would a layer rusting improve it

• If I layered it the first time, would a second round of wrapping improve it

The Basic Rusting Process

Basically we created a layer cake effect, alternating layers of fabric and rusty items. You can create as many layers as you wish, I have successfully layer 7 pieces of fabric.

 

Which Soaking Solution To Use

You can achieve different results depending on the soaking solution you use.

• The plain solution
  • With this solution, you end up with a less rusted background. So if you start with white fabric, you will have a lot of white background.

• Rusty water solution
  • Soaking your fabric in this solution will give you a rusty colored background. How rusty depends on your solution. The more rusted your solution, the more rusted the background

Procedure

• Start by soaking your fabric in one of the solutions, making sure it is completely wet.
• Wring out the fabric, but leave some moisture in it.

• Spread out the fabric on the tray. Here I am using an industrial size cookie tray

• For more added texture, scrunch up the fabric a little

• Arrange the flat rusty items on the fabric. You can arrange them in a random fashion

• Or be more deliberate in the placement, trying to create a pictorial scene

• Spray with the vinegar and water solution

• Layer another piece of fabric on top of this

• Add more rusty items

• Continue layering fabric and rusty items until you have as many layers as you want, finishing off with a layer of fabric.
• You can use items that are not completely flat, but you get the best results with flat items. You want to have good contact between the fabric and the rusty items.
• Cover it all with plastic. If it is small enough, slip it inside a plastic bag.
• Remove as much air as possible and weight the plastic down to prevent the fabric from drying out.

Batching

Now comes the hard part—WAITING!

How long to wait depends on several factors

• The heat
• The humidity
• The weight of your fabric
• The rusty item itself

Some pieces give up their rust very easily and other pieces are more stubborn. When starting out, you may want to check your pieces every 3-4 hours to see how they are coming along. With some experience, you will know how long it takes to get your desire results.