Just in Time for Halloween

The Rust-Tex Indoor Dye Studio is in the same condition as the last picture I posted. As I have been busy doing other things. Like baking these finger cookies for DH to take to work tomorrow.
It was really his idea and the past two years he made them mostly by himself. This year I shaped all of them. He put the "knuckle" marks and the fingernail on them.

You can find many recipes with lots of variations on the web. Just use "finger cookies" for your search argument. Our personal variation is to put a bread sitck in the cookie. We make the bread stick almost as long as the cookie and leave it hanging out the end like a broken bone. The change in texture from sugar cookie to bread stick adds a terrifying dimension to eating one of our cookies. That texture change makes you think of brittle bones.

wahhhh-hahahahaha

Just in Time!!!

I got the Rust-Tex studio into the garage just in time as the first snow of the season descended upon us.Don't be fooled, this picture is from February 18, 2008

Today it was 40F and the snow melted as soon as it hit the ground. Temperatures in the 60sF are predicted for the week-end.

Click here to see how the Rusty Naked Dancing Woman woman is coming along.

Bad News/Good News

The bad news is, no more beautiful summer days for any of us in the Midwest area of the USA. But for me it meant packing up the Rust-Tex dye studio on the deck...sigh...here is a picture of how it looked after the last load was removed to the garage for winter storage. The good new is, I am going to carve out a tiny corner of the basement to create an indoor rust dye studio. Although I will still be in my cold and damp WI basement studio, it won't be all bad. If fact here are a couple of things I am looking forward to:

ONE

I can be as messy as I want to be. I won't have to be careful not to get water on the floor and flakes of rust all over the place. There is a floor drain and I won't be using the laundry room sink

TWO

There is a hook where I can hang up my Rust-Tex lab coat. You know, the one with the Rust-Tex logo over the pocket

Here is a picture of it already hanging there waiting for me put it on when I try to carve out a place for a table from this area of the basement, which is just outside the bathroom.

I know just what you are thinking,

"GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!!"

I will post pictures of how it turns out.

Naked Dancing Woman

Someone ordered the Rust-Tex Instructional CD today through the store on Rust-Tex.Com and this is what she is planning to do:

"Am really excited...have been doing a little rusting on my own as I want to make a piece of a rusty old naked dancing woman to celebrate my 65th birthday...think my joints are getting rusty so rusty fabric seems the way to go to express my joy at making it to age 65."

Good thing she lives in FL where the rust dyeing season never ends.

Here, in WI, the season is drawing to a close...sigh...I am planning to pack up the rest of the Rust-Tex dye studio this week-end. The good news is I am thinking of setting up a Rust-Tex dye studio in a corner of the basement so I can rust dye fabric in the winter. It won't be as much fun as rust dyeing outside on the deck. I won't be able to "be as messy as I want to be". I will have to be careful not to get water on the floor and flakes of rust all over the place.
When your rust dyes studio starts to look like this EVERYDAY you know it is time to pack it up.

Still Another Question

This question arrived by emailed today:

"Does the tannin have a short shelf life, once it's mixed with hot water? I have a silk shawl that is not accepting the tannin. The tannin was mixed with hot water several days ago and has worked well on other cotton and silk pieces, but it is now cool and several days old. Do you think if it is heated again it will dye better—or should I just dump it and mix a fresh batch?"

When tannin is mixed with iron oxide you get black.

It is available at the store at Rust-Tex.Com

I have not noticed tannin going bad in 2 or 3 days!!! I put it in a bottle and let it sit on the deck until it grows moldy. That is a sure sign to toss it. My experience is that it works best, (read as fastest) in hot weather. If you are doing this outside in cold weather it will take longer to work. Try letting it sit longer than overnight.