Metal

Art Crawl Iowa Virutal Studio Tour Update!

What you will need to participate in this years
Art Crawl Iowa Virtual Studio Tour:

  1. Currently live in Iowa
  2. A blog and/or a website where you will post creative photos of your studio(s)
  3. Brief artist statement and bio about yourself and your work.
  4. A couple of images of your artwork.
  5. List of galleries, etc., where we can see and/or purchase your artwork.
  6. Contact email
  7. Send me a link to your website/blog/page and I will add it to the list of participating artists here on this blog next Friday at  prairiefibers@hotmail.com
If you would like to participate in Art Crawl Iowa 2013 email me at prairiefibers@hotmail.com

Removing Excess Rust - Getting Started

Removing Excess Rust - Getting Started Removing Rust is very simple and is a form of discharge dyeing.


 
Above are three pieces of fabric I rust dyed using an old coffee can lid in 2003, each piece of fabric has varying stages of rust on the surface depending on their position in the rust bundle layer.  The piece of fabric to the far left was closest to the metal lid and therefore has acquired the greatest amount of rust on the surface.  The iron oxide particles are so thick that they shimmer as just like metal.
 

Above, detail of teh rusted fabric and rust particles.  Click on image for greater detail


Above supplies needed, excluding old tooth brush, foam brush, and nitrile gloves, includes bucket for soaking fabrics in, baking soda, water, and rusted fabrics.

Heavy Rust What To Do???



Heavy Rust What To Do??? I'm asked this question frequently especailly by quilters who are battling shredding threads, broken needles, etc.  Following is a multi part tutorial that will hopefully reduce the frustration of shredded threads etc.  

As you can see in the above photo there are heavily rusted areas that appear to be actual rusted metal.  That's because it is rusted metal.  The rusting process allows rust particles, iron oxide, to accumulate on the surface of the fibers/fabrics.  The end result, depending on the length of time the fabric is allowed to rust, is sharp jagged metallic edges that shreds thread, dulls needles, and leaves little flecks of iron oxide everywhere.

How to remove heavy areas of rust from my rusted fabric?

Question of the Day: How to remove heavy areas of rust from my rusted fabric?

You neutralize the rusted fabric with baking soda water first and then if there are chunks left behind, ok I leave mine because I like the look, you can put a baking soda paste on the fabric to help break it down. Keep in mind that sometime...s the rust chunks simply do not go away but it's worth a try.

Rubbing in with a toothbrush also helps, I have done this but gotta admit I have one piece of fabric that was super chunky and decided to work with it instead of trying to get rid of the rusted areas.

A Rust Dyeing Visual

Lay out fabric to be rusted most any fabric and surface WILL rust so be sure to protect your work area with a plastic drop cloth!

Arrange rusty objects into a pleasing pattern.

Spritz with vinegar

Cover with plastic 24 hours, the plastic keeps the fabric and rusty areas moist.

Remove plastic to check progress, if desired rewet and cover again for darker richer markings.