Sunday, June 14, 2009

Rust Dyeing

Just wanted to write a quick summary of what I learned this week! Rust dyeing! My 84 year old neighbor who gave me the old frying pan I used to make this beautiful fabric said "we always tried to figure out how to get the rust out of our fabric". Well, not today! It's a hot new way to make fabric in an environmentally friendly way.


So here's what you need: something rusty, some vinegar and your fabric. I used my neighbor's old cast iron skillet and scrunched the fabric inside the pan. I poured vinegar over it and let it sit in the sun for the afternoon and voila!

3 comments:

  1. The frying pan yeilded the best results for me! Now... what will I create with it?

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  2. I love the end result. I wonder how it would work if the fabric was dyed first, then over-dyed with the rust. Hmmmmmmmmmm, thoughts to play with!
    Really lovely!
    Suzanne higgs

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  3. Hi Suzanne! I have tried overdyeing with rust -- it does work and the pieces are beautiful. I've tried rust over blues and I get a beautiful green . Looks like you've been doing some dyeing yourself. Cheers!

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