See what we found in the trash? Blacksmiths throw out the
greatest stuff. We took these treasures back to the classroom, used
"found" fabric and vinegar from the dining hall to encourage stains
one would ordinarily avoid. It was important to keep the fabric wet with the
vinegar and weighted down so as much fabric was touching the rusting metal as
possible. 
This next piece was a fairly beige, boring piece of cottonish upholstery. It was happy to keep itself soaked with the vinegar.
In the piece below, I tried to use a shibori technique where the fabric was
pleated and then tied around a long piece of waffled rebar.
It was not very
successful showing the waffle pattern but that is because I did not have very much vinegar or a way to keep it from drying out. It is a synthetic fabric and was very good at drying itself. It started out a bright white and became a rich, creamy ivory.
This and the other rusted even more when I came home and hung them on
the line. Maybe they did not rust more but the patterns blurred and the
rusty parts expanded as the moisture wicked away from the main design.
I think this has some potential, do you agree?
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