Bad Timing

Today was a busy day for me. I am working hard to get the store at Rust-Tex.Com up and running by September 1. So between trying to figure out how to do the shipping, how to make the new shopping cart program work and basting the commission quilt, it was about 3pm when I was ready to start working in the Rust-Tex Dye Studio, which is outside on my deck. That is EXACTLY when it started to rain. The picture of the day celebrates less busy times and dryer days, with the message to enjoy them while you can.

Rayon Top

The first time I ever saw scenic jasper I was about 19 years old. I loved the way the colors flowed creating a landscape.

Front of rayon top

It is natural that when I need a name for this type of patterning I called it Jasper.

Back of rayon top

I later found out that iron oxide provides the coloring for jaspers.

...all about stars

I am producing a new Rust-Tex Starter Kit.

This one is for the Image Transfer Technique.

Here is a picture of the kit:

Here is a picture of what is in the kit:

Here is a picture of a wallhanging I made with the steel stars in the kit. I added a lot of commercial fabrics, mostly batiks.

Here is a picture of what I do with the industrial waste from the kit:

The kit will soon be available for purchase at Rust-Tex.Com

Battering down the hatches!!!

On Thursday it was TWW, (too windy to work). I had to rinse out what I had set up on Wednesday or it would get too dark or eat through the fabric. (Ah, the choices of a rust dyer) While I was out onside working in the Rust-Tex studio, the wind was whipping the trees around and making that swooshing noise that proceeds a big storm. Sometimes a stick would hit the deck. When I heard a big one land on the driveway, I quickly finished up the rinsing. I put anything that could blow away in the house.

As shown in the picture above I left the cast iron cookware on the table, to catch the rain and develop a deeper layer of rust. I figured if it the wind was strong enough to lift cast iron off the picnic table, the house wouldn't be left standing either. I went into the basement studio to wait out the storm. It passed through very uneventfully. Leaving behind a perfect day for rust-dyeing on Friday. Sadly I never got into the studio. Between garage sailing and cleaning the house for company in the evening there just wasn't any time. Today it is too cold. Maybe tomorrow...

I Love Hearts

Here is the results of the set up I showed Friday April 27.

It didn't do exactly what I expected, which is part of the fun of rust dyeing. So I tried another napkin. This time I aligned the center fold of the napkin with the points of the heart. I liked the result much better, especially the little heart in the center. I set up another one today, but with a different crumple pattern for the edges. I'll keep making these until the cookie sheet collapses into a different shape. hummmmmm......a dinosaur would be interesting!

What a Day!!!

Today was almost the perfect day for rust dyeing, cool, moist and no bugs. The only draw back was a northerly wind, usually it blows through the Rust-Tex Dye Studio from the south. The wind was too strong for me to reclaim any rust dust so the filters will remain in the house until that wind dies down a bit. The wind wasn't as strong as April 22, so it didn't prevent me from working. Not only did I rinse out six pieces of tree fabric, I did several interesting set ups today.

The best involved the very rusty cookie featured on April 23. A heart shaped piece broke out of it last time I moved it.

To make the most of a serendipitous event, I put a cotton napkin with a scalloped edge over the hole. Then I crumpled up the edges and added rust dust and tannin to get gray. This early in the season I use tea. Usually Earl Gray Tea, because it smells so good. Today I was out of Earl Gray so I used Chai. It could become my new best ingredient for rust dyeing!!! With the wonderful smells of ginger root, cinnamon, clove, allspice, nutmeg, and cardamom wafting off the set up, I might have to consider putting the set up in a cage to keeping the squirrels from nibbling on it. At the last moment I added a wire heart to the center to weight it all down.

I can hardly wait until tomorrow to see what develops!!!

Too Wet Here

It is too wet for me to do any rust dyeing. It is a good thing I rolled up some bottles earlier this week as the rain is keeping them well watered and helping them grow trees. I'll post pictures when they are finished.

That is One Rusty Cookie Sheet!!!

Today was THE perfect day for rust dyeing. It started out wet from last night's rain and ended up sunny and warm with out much wind. A couple of days ago, I had set up some scarves on a cookie sheet that was so rusty I thought it had a hole in it. To help retain the water, I put it on a big blue tray. It is a garbage can cover but I find it so useful in the Rust-Tex studio that I don't think of it's humble origins. With this wonderful set up I was expecting to get some gorgeous jasper scarves but instead I got a pale gold with just a tiny bit of veining.

the very rusty cookie sheet

the set up

the resulting color

That is what I LOVE about rust dyeing, the unpredictability of it!!!

Day Three

Didn't get to do any rust dyeing today even though the weather was pretty good for it. Tomorrow we are going to have our first garage sale outing of 2007. I am hoping to find something wonderfully rusty at such a low price I can't refuse it!!!

Here is a picture from last ThursdayApril 12.

Day Two

Today it was too wet and cold to do any rust dyeing. But yesterday was a wonderful day. These bottle wraps were started on Tuesday.

There is room for another bottle there just wasn't time to get another one set up.

And So It Begins

Today with my taxes filed and the temperature predicted to be 68 degrees F I decided it would be a good day to set up the Rust-Tex studio out on my deck here in Madison, Wisconsin.

On Friday the 13th, I demonstrated rust dyeing at the "Sampler", one of the events at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago . I placed a rusty star on a styrofoam plate, added a bit of salt and a bit of water, then I showed some other techniques from the Rust-Tex Instructional CD. After each demo I put the plates on top of each other. At the end of the event I put the whole pile in a plastic "zip-lock" bag.

Today at home I opened the bag,

unpiled the plates,

rinsed the fabric and hung the newest batch of stars on the line to dry. As I scrubbed each plate to reclaim the rust dust, I was surprised to see the stars had made marks on the bottom of the plates.

Would rust dyeing work on tyvek?