Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Another Question about Rust Dyeing

Someone email me this question today:

"When you're working at home...do you use plastic bags? I couldn't decide whether it was right...it keeps in the water, but would restrict the air."

I am home all day so I can keep the rust dyed pieces hydrated when necessary. I love checking on them, it gets me out of my cold, damp basement studio into the beautiful summer day, which is one of the main reasons I took up rust dyeing.

Using plastic bags just sends more things to the landfill so I try not to use them. Wrapping your rust dyed piece tightly with plastic will restrict the oxygen available. I had an interesting talk with a chemist at Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Show. He said iron oxide formed with less air is black, iron oxide formed with a lot of air is reddish. This might open up a whole world of experimentation for someone.

Would that be you?

7 comments:

Susan Egge Haftel said...

Hi, Lois.
I bought a Rust-Tex kit and some tannin at QBL and was told I could find instructions on using rust dust and tannin on the website. Could you please direct me to that section?
Thanks.

Lois Jarvis said...

About half way through the Bonnie McCaffery vidcast on rust dyeing I explain how to make "Stromy Skies" fabric using rust dust and tannin. Hopefully you can get it from there, if not you should buy the CD available at the store at Rust-Tex.Com

Lois Jarvis said...

http://bonniemccaffery.com/vidcasts/025.html

Ayala Levinger said...

Hi Lois
I have found your blog looking for rust dyeing in google after reading about it this week in Quilting arts. I am so drawn to it. we have lots of rust things in the barn (my boyfriend doesn't throw away a thing!) And with your help in this blog I am ready to try. Thank you for sharing your experiences. I love the photos's. it is all really inspiring.

Lois Jarvis said...

I will have an article in the Quilting Arts Gift issue about my travel scarf. I sent them directions on how to rust dye with tannin and rust dust to make the make your own "Stormy Skies" scarf. I don't know if they are going to publish the directions or not.

Katie said...

I Lois,

I am so grateful that you are willing to share your work! When you do your arashi shibori with copper wire, is the wire already rusted? I am hoping to do something similar for a class project but I have limited time and I'm wondering if it's even possible in only 1-2 weeks!

Thank you for your posts,

Katie

Lois Jarvis said...

Dear Katie,
No the copper wire does not have to be pre-rusted. It takes 5-6 days for the "Trees" design to develop, depending on the temperature. So you should be able to get it done in time for your class.
Follow this link to see the original post on Shibori Rust dyeing:

http://rust-tex.blogspot.com/2008/07/rust-dye-shibori.html