Rust Fabric Dyeing

It is week 3 of my Irresistible Dyeing Techniques class at the NSCCD. In the first couple of weeks we explored different shibori techniques using indigo dye, and last week we created 3D fabrics using thermo-plastic techniques and I demonstrated how to use rusty objects to create beautiful designs and patterns on fabric. 

At the beginning of each class we always have a 'show and tell' where we share the outcomes of our methods from the previous week. This is a lovely way to learn from each other, as we all bring our unique life experiences with us to the class room. 

This week, one of my students brought in a large panel of fabric (approximately 60cm x 60cm) to show her exquisite rust design that was inspired by my rust demonstration. It is created using an old metal ceiling tile she collected on her travels. Isn't it lovely!

And the best part is that the technique is very simple to do. 

How Does It Work?

The rust-dyeing process is extremely simple.  When a rusty object is in contact with fabric, fibre or paper, it leaves an imprint. Place your rusty items on fabric, wet it with water and vinegar to hasten the oxidisation (rusting) process, and leave the fabric and rusty item together until we are satisfied with the colour or pattern. Then remove the item, and wash the fabric. The whole process takes only a few days and requires little effort.

Equipment

• Fabric - cotton and silk are the best fabrics for dyeing. Wool fabric will take dye, but the rust tends to colour it a bit harshly; a wool/cotton blend can be a better choice, if that works for your project.
• Plastic kitchen gloves
• Spray bottle filled with a mixture of 50 percent water and 50 percent vinegar
• Plastic bags or wrap (optional)
• Plastic bin, box or tray
• Rusty items which can be used over, and over, and over again.
• You can even rust non-rusty iron items. To aid the rusting process place in a shallow pan with a bit of salt, water, and vinegar, and in a few weeks, it was fabulously rusty and ready for dyeing.

Method

Cover your working surface with plastic bags or wrap. Rust will also dye your clothes, so wear old clothes that you don’t mind staining.

Lightly spray your fabric with the vinegar/water mixture.

Place your rusty items on the fabric in any pattern you like.

Place another piece of fabric on top.

Keep your fabric slightly moist for the next few days; this will help the rust designs to develop. (Tip: Weight down the fabric with small items such as rocks or bottles if you want to make your imprint clearer.)

Lightly spray your fabric with the vinegar/water mixture (1:1 ratio). You can add extra vinegar at any time, to help speed the dyeing process.

Now, wrap loosely with a plastic bag to keep the fabric moist, which hastens the dyeing process, but you also want to make sure air can reach the fabric as well. Oxygen is necessary for the rust to develop.

Length of the Dyeing Process

Check your fabric once a day or so; make sure it’s damp, and see how the colour is developing.

For light colours, you may only want to leave your dyeing project for one day.

For very dark intense colour, you might leave it for 4 or 5 days.

If left too long, the rust can eventually damage the fabric, especially if it is thin or delicate. However, if you check your fabric every day or so, you should not have any problems.

I find that the rust-dye develops more quickly in warmer environments; I especially love rust-dyeing outdoors in the summer, as it goes very quickly.

Finishing Your Dyeing Process

When you are satisfied with the colour and patterning of your fabric, remove the rusty items and keep them for use in your next project.

Next, immerse the fabric in a light saline solution; this completely stops the rusting process and neutralizes the fabric. For the solution, I use about one tablespoon of salt in 4 litres of water.

Then wash the fabric as normal – if it’s silk or wool, hand wash with dishwashing liquid and rinse thoroughly. If it’s a cotton or synthetic, you may machine wash and dry as normal.

Simply Irresistible Dye Techniques at NSCCD

I will be teaching a number of textile workshops at the NSCCD (Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design) during the winter semester 2017. 

The first workshop I will be teaching is Simply Irresistible Dye Techniques. During the course we explore a variety of resist dye techniques. Methods include the Japanese art of shibori (stitching, wrapping and knotting fabric) using indigo. 

Shibori with indigo

We also create a book of samples (cotton, silk and wool) experimenting with natural dyes such as madder (beautiful turkish reds), cochineal (red from a beetle), log wood (purple), yellow from turmeric and weld. We over dye the fabrics to achieve further colours (greens, browns, orange) and also add different mordants to achieve different colours (beautiful greys).

Different colours of madder in the dye pot
(cotton, silk and wool)

We also play with alternative dye methods such as rust to create fascinating patterns.

Fascinating patterns dying with iron (rust)

And we create three dimensional fabrics using thermoplastic techniques which utilise heat to alter the fabric, and melt-off which removes metal from metal fabric coated materials. 

Sea Rhapsody
Three dimensional fabrics using melt-off and thermoplastic
techniques

Other resist techniques explored in the class include painting directly onto the fabric to create hand drawn designs. 

Hand drawn resist onto cotton dyed with indigo.

This class is simply irresistible with all techniques that are demonstrated and lots of fun. The great thing about the course is that all these techniques can be easily done at home and along with learning new techniques and you can also put your new knowledge towards creating a final project within the class.

Apron made with shibori indigo techniques

Registration closes January 16. 

Call Alexis, the NSCCD Studio Coordinator, at 902-492-2524. If you're leaving a message, please make sure to - Leave your Name, Number, and the Class you want to sign up for. If you're in a hurry, you can also call Becky, the NSCCD Administrative Coordinator at 902-492-2522.

Simply Irresistible Dye Techniques

Mondays, January 23 – February 27 

6:30-9:30 (18 hours/6 weeks)

$185 + materials fee $50 payable to the instructor on first day of class

Class Size: 6 (no experience necessary)

Erratic - The installation of the exhibition

I was incredibly fortunate to have access to the gallery ahead of the usual Sunday installation due to Reading week. The gallery was closed during this time which allowed for time to paint the wood scaffolding that was then attached to the ceiling. Because of the age of the building I needed to build a support for my clay objects. The ceilings are incredibly high (theres a 12ft ladder in the background). 

The next step was to then attach the ropes that hung from the ceiling. This was done at the same time as the scaffolding to prevent our legs from getting tired.

Each of the clay objects weighs approximately 5 kg, with 45 in the installation. The clay objects contain found rusty metal, some of which were old tools and some were so rusty it was hard to tell what their original use was.  

Susie counting my 'grips for a stone'

Despite working within the parameters of creating 222 grips for a stone, I haven't counted how many I have made so far. As I work on the project, the number starts to become irrelevant. Suzie counted 66, 45 of these were used in the exhibition, and the remaining 21 were taken back to my studio. 

Im guessing there must be close to 200 by now. Ill let you know when I do finally count them!

Dying with Rust

The fun continues in the Irresistible Dye Class I teach at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design.   This week we explored dying with rust. Its quite a simple process and it achieves some fabulous results. 

To start we laid down a large plastic bag and upon this we placed our fabric that had been sprayed with a 50/50 water vinegar solution.  

Fabric with rusty huddles from an old loom laid upon it

Then we placed the rusty objects on the fabric and covered the rusty pieces with another bit of fabric. This was all wrapped in the plastic bag to prevent the fabric from drying out, the dampness encourages the objects to rust onto the fabric.

The rusty fabric after a week of soaking

We left the fabric for a week, and the above is what happened in the space of 7 days.

Each layer of fabric reacts differently to the process

Tori displaying her rust dyed fabrics 

For more images of the results of our rust dying visit the Irresistible Dye Facebook page.

Irresistible Dye Techniques - Flour Paste Resist

It was the last of the six week Irresistible Dying Class at NSCCD on Tuesday and we saw a number of ideas and experiments through to completion. 

We had fun experimenting with cochineal dye (natural red dye that comes from a beetle) and the different colours it will create depending on the different mordants used to fix the dye. Alum created a scarlet pink/red, where as vinegar created a plum purple. 

Shiori resist using cochineal dye and discharge techniques

We dyed using different shibori resist techniques, and then combined these with the application of discharge dying (which is the removal of colour) using bleach.

silk resist dyed using cochineal and indigo natural dyes

Sophie explored stencilling a flour paste resist onto cotton. After it had dried she then brushed screen printing ink over the resist.

And making the flour resist was very easy, and much quicker than the Japanese rice paste method.

Flour Paste Resist

Ingredients

150g plain cooking flour

200ml (¾ cup) cold water

150ml (2/3 cup) liquid gum arabic

Method

Mix the cold water and flour in a mixing pot, stirring well. Heat the mixture on the stovetop, stirring continuously until a thick paste is formed.

Allow to cool slightly, then sire in the liquid gum arabic.

Strain any lumps through a sieve (very important if you want to pipe the design onto the fabric. not so important if you are painting or stencilling the design)

Sophie with her flour resist design

A detail of the flour resist

Using a similar resist method, this time gel glue on cotton, the class created an interesting resist which when dried was dipped into shibori. 

gel glue resist with indigo

We also had fun experimenting dying with rust, which is so beautiful in colour, and so easy to do. 

Dying with rust.

I have put together a pinterest board of ideas and techniques here if you would like further inspiration and ideas.

222 Grips for a Stone (22-26) Handles

Further musings on the found object which is continued from last week where I was pondering on the readymade which resulted in the assemblages below .....

#25 of 222 Grips for a Stone detail

#25 of 222 Grips for a Stone

The clay object in the image above bares marks of its function and use and traces of the lives who have handled it. Finger prints of unknown people have left their trace, embedded and imprinted on the earthenware clay. The latch too, shows traces of wear. Green discolouration on the brass suggests the age of the object because it has acquired a patina of time. The rusty water marks show that it has been exposed to the damp with other iron objects, and it possibly was immersed in water for a prolonged period for the rust marks to be transferred onto the brass. 

The objects have become endowed with interiority and a memory, things become stories of people, work and lives (Frow 273). 

These traces allude to the presence of absence. The finger prints point to an absence of the people who made, handled and shaped the clay. The patina on the latch suggests the once presence of water and dampness. Both contain a sense of geological and human time.  

#23 of 222 Grips for a Stone

#24 of 222 Grips for a Stone

#26 of 222 Grips for a Stone

Whilst the works in these images are not finished (the clay needs to be fired, the handles attached, and ideally I would like to suspend them from the ceiling)  it gives you the idea of what I am working on at the moment.

View from my studio

We have been experiencing some delightful autumn weather, and I captured the quintessential Haligonian view from my studio:  cruise ship, tug, and a transport carrier of some description.

Frow, J. A Pebble, a Camera, A Man Who Turns into a Telegraph Pole, Critical Inquiry Vol. 28, No. 1. Chicago: University of Chicago Journals, Autumn 2001)  

222 Grips for a Stone #18 - #21

I am participating in the MFA course 'Things' which considers the historic and contemporary discourses around the experience of things and the significant role that our relationship to things retains in the production of objects and subjects in visual culture. The course is taught by the dynamic Bob Bean and I am finding it fascinating.

We explore questions like: What are things? What do they do? and why do they inspire creative and critical attention? 

So far we have discussed 'things' ranging from the found object, Heidegger's philosophy of the jug and the void, collecting things, nostalgia, the broken tool, how language and words are things too.

Lately I have been giving a lot of thought to Heidegger's notion of the object as 'ready to hand' which refers to tools that we often overlook such as hammers, needles, pens etc. 

Which led me think of the readymade, and Duchamp's iconic artwork that changed the way we think about modern art. A urinal where he changed the context and meaning by turning it upside down, renaming it and placing it in a gallery, titled Fountain 1917.

I have also been thinking about the found object and the ready made in my work. 

I started noticing 'ready made' grips for a stone on the architecture in and around the city. So I thought I would include them in my 222 Grips for a Stone exploration. 

#18 of 222 Grips for a Stone 

#19 of 222 Grips for a Stone 

#20 of 222 Grips for a Stone 

#21 of 222 Grips for a Stone

222 Grips for a stone #17

This semester I am the Teachers Assistant for the Introduction to Ceramics class with the delightful Neil Forrest. Neil spends his time between Nova Scotia and Scandinavia and specialises in large scale ceramics. He is particularly interested in the built environment and how ceramic sculptures interact with architecture. It is an enjoyable class and we are currently assisting the students with building large scale sculptures using slab building techniques.

This is proving to be inspirational for my artwork as well, and I have started to explore the idea of 222 grips for a stone, where the clay (consisting of minerals) becomes the stone. This is an exciting place of discovery where working with the soft clay opens more possibilities for how things can attach or grip the 'stone'.  

#17 of 222 Grips for a Stone
before firing

My first experiment consisted with embedding a large bolt into clay. This was about 20cm long and 15cm wide. It was quite heavy, and a solid piece of clay. 

#17 of 222 Grips for a Stone
after firing

The piece broke in the kiln (it wasn't 100 percent dry) and I prefer the unexpected result compared with the controlled shape. It is an earthenware clay and was fired to cone 04. I particularly like iron bolt which turned black during the firing process. 

The next step is to experiment with how certain glazes will interact with the piece, along with reduction firing, that may change the colour of the clay body.