A big twist on a WOWbook lesson

I have mentioned once or twice already that I have been doing the workshops in the WOWbook series. This eco-dyeing onto paper was one of those workshops I wanted to try. For full details you will need to get the book from the d4daisy website. 

I changed the technique a little by using procion dyes spread over the paper before I sandwiched it with leaves and more paper. I expected the dye to disperse in the pot but it didn't do that at all. The colour is a lot stronger than I had anticipated but I still like the way it turned out. The paler pages were not dyed but did pick up dye from the water.

I liked the way the prints turned out so I made then into a book. I kept a couple of pages out to use for collage in the book. I also wanted to stitch on the extra pages so the back of the stitching would be hidden when I glued them into the book.  I used coloured pencils to outline the leaf prints and added shading around some of the images.

 After a couple of weeks I decided to add doodles to make the book more interesting for the viewer. I used a white pen and fineliners for the extra drawing.

 
 I also used steel wool fibers on the leaves for rusting. These became the dark dots you can see everywhere. One day, when I was pulling apart steel wool for rusting I didn't realise that little fibers were falling off the metal onto the fabric below. After I left my bundle of fabric to rust I unwrapped it all and was surprised to see little marks and dots everywhere. I liked the effect so it is something I do quite often now, when I am rusting cloth.

 Here you can see the difference in the before and after the extra drawing. I kept the colour palette consistent throughout the journal but did whatever drawing I fancied on each page.

 I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the left page here so it was one of the last ones I finished. I also used gold pen throughout the book for highlights.

 I added a few quotes about leaves to the book and also wrote the names of some of the plants I used for the prints. You can see one name in the bottom left area.

 Sometimes I used the doodles to hide areas of eco-printing that weren't as nice as I would have liked.

 I mainly used stranded embroidery thread for stitching but on a couple of pages I used a metallic gold thread, as in the crosses above.

 It was interesting to see how some plants reacted so differently to the dyeing process.

 All of the leaves on the right hand page came from the same eucalyptus plant. Some were green and some had turned red. I was surprised that the red ones dyed the paper browner than the green ones.

 There were a lot of steel wool fibres on the page on the right. I used the image to hide some of the darker areas.

 The page on the left here is one of the paler ones that didn't have dye applied to it but did still have the print of the leaves on it. I did use coloured pencils to make the blue areas darker. I always do what I think a piece needs and am never afraid to try something different. If it doesn't work the way I want,  I change it or use it in another project.

This little journal was a great piece that I could work on whenever I finished something and was looking for a small project to keep my hands busy while I planned the next thing. One of the reasons I love WOWbook so much is that it covers all sorts of mixed media and textiles. It pushes me to think of how I can adapt a technique when I don't have all the required materials to hand. The only reason I used dye here was because I didn't want to wait 3 weeks to make iron water as instructed and it was the first thing I saw when I looked in my cupboard for something else to use. I do like this technique and have since repeated it with a more diluted dye.

Trying to create rusted designs

 A workshop on the web lesson I completed was about rusting. I have explained this technique before, http://artygirl2010.blogspot.com/2015/02/rusting-fabric.html This time we used non rusting things to block the application of the rust.

In this sample I used a plastic stencil before I applied the rust. I was supposed to use rusting powder but I didn't have any. I used steel wool instead and it worked well enough for me. Later on I dyed the fabric too. I have added some braids and tiny gem stones to my finished textile art work.

For this fabric I tried to make squares using cardboard but it didn't really work out that way. I do like the way it turned out but if you want perfect shapes you need to make sure you apply the rusting powder or steel wool evenly. I added some hand stitching and a quote for a page that I will put in the journal that I will make next year. I am teaching my group how to make the fabric journal in February next year so I will post the instructions after that and hopefully some video if it works out. I also want to get back into to some painting and art journaling next year so keep watching this space.

Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope you enjoy spending time with friends and loved ones. I will return in the new year. 

Rusting fabric.

I think I have mentioned before that I love to work with textiles. I haven't shared a lot of that work because I do more art journaling these days but I have joined two local textile groups so I will probably share more textiles now. Today I am sharing a fun technique I learned the other day.It is rusting fabric. There are many examples of how to do it on the web already so I will quickly share my version.

One safety note before I begin. You are using rusty objects so you should make sure your tetanus immunization is up to date and use rubber gloves when dying so you don't absorb too much iron. It can be a health hazard.

1. I simply wet a natural fiber fabric with vinegar and then wrap it around a rusty object or else lay rusty items on top of the vinegar soaked fabric. You need to keep the fabric moist while the rust transfers so cover with plastic but not tightly. You need to allow the air in to make the rusting happen. It usually only takes a couple of hours if you use full strength vinegar. Most recipes say to dilute the vinegar 50% with water because the full strength vinegar may degrade the fabric. In my experiments I didn't find any holes in the calico that I used but some of the others that tried it said their silk turned to shreds after 2 hours.

2. After you have enough rust on your fabric rinse it off in salty water until the water is clear then dry on the line. That is it. Now you have wonderful fabric to play with.

3. When I read up on the technique I saw that many people mentioned the fabric would continue to rust over time and degrade your fabric. I found a simple way to get around this is to wash the fabric in a bicarbonate soda and water rinse (about 1/4 cup soda to 4 liters of water) to neutralise it. You need to repeat this yearly to stop the rust developing over time. If you don't want to bother with that then don't use the fabric for something special  that you want to keep for a long time.

Below are some of the samples (click on photos to make them larger) I made and some of the other techniques I tried:

 

The first time I did this I layered the fabric in a long plastic tub then spread over the rusty objects and sprayed each layer with vinegar. This was plain calico. It had some steel wool spread over it. The steel wool started to rust within an hour but I left it overnight to see how dark it would get. I like the random pattern it made.

This was another piece of calico that I did at the same time. You can sort of see the outline of some washers I used. On the calico the rusting makes a blurry image.

 This piece of calico was wrapped around a large bolt and left overnight in an open plastic bag. You can see some of the detail of the thread.

 Someone at the class mentioned that tea staining the rusty fabric makes a grey color. With this sample I used 5 teabags and boiling water to soak the fabric. I left it for 5 minutes and it became really dark. After I rinsed and dried the fabric it remained a dark color.

 This sample is another tea stained one. I only used 1 tea bag this time. I just dipped the right hand side in and removed it straight away. You can see it has changed the orange color of the rust to a brown shade. The left hand side was dipped for about 3 minutes and is darker in tone.

This sample was dyed on the stove with RIT liquid dye. The rust has not really changed color much. I really like the autumn tones of this piece.

The calico was fun for my first attempts but I wondered why they always say to use natural fibers. I have a huge roll of man made fabric so I wanted to try that. I don't know what it is because I picked it up at a garage sale but it looks like some sort of sheeting. It is not 100% cotton but it does feel like there is some in the mix. It is probably polyester.

The polyester fabric worked. The images of the rusty objects I used is much sharper than on the cotton calico. I am showing both sides of the fabric here. You can see that the color is softer on the side that doesn't touch the rust.

When I was pulling the steel wool apart to lay on my fabric I noticed little fibers of steel wool were covering the table so I decided to pull the steel wool apart over the top of one of the pieces of fabric. If you look at the larger version of this photo you can see the lacy pattern it made.

The man made fabric did not absorb as much rust in the open areas as the calico did so there is much more contrast in the color. I also like the high definition patterns that formed.

 This piece was wrapped around the big bolt but this time I used a skein of embroidery floss to hold the fabric on tightly. I was surprised to see it made a sort of tie dye effect on the material. It also dyed the floss a rusty color too so I can't wait to use it to make something.

 

 My final experiment was to dye the polyester with the same dye I used for the calico. It changed the rusty color very slightly and didn't dye evenly but I like that. I looks like it will be fun to use.

 

 Now that I have all this fabric I am going to make a few things. I want to keep a record of all my experiments with each technique I learn this year so I will make a fabric art journal where I will have examples and also written pages with instructions. I will be starting with a page that uses these rusty fabrics I have made. This technique is so much fun that I had to stop myself doing even more fabric. I need to find ways to use it first.