I Stained The Driveway

We ended up with mixed results from our rust dyeing.  

Jennifer had two big pieces of canvas.  This one ended up looking really cool.  

One day soon, it will be an apron.

The other one should have been really amazing, she placed in on coils of wire.  But they didn't rust, we figure they must have been coated.  

This part sat on the outdoor fireplace grill - a very popular piece.

But this one is fabulous and we learned to test metal first.  If you get it wet and leave it out, you'll be able to tell if it will rust or not before you play with it.  

I love this, it's from the grill of the smallest hibachi I've ever seen.  Smaller than the one in the link.

This one was wire wrapped around rebar.  It's my favorite of the stuff I made.  

The lines are from the wire.  

I think it was floral wire - not sure though.  That's what happens when you buy your supplies at thrift shops and yard sales.  :)

This is from where the rebar touched the fabric.  I like this part, too.  We're going to find some larger tubes to wrap fabric around so that more of the fabric gets color.  We're thinking wine bottles or large pvc tubes.   Stay tuned.

Here's a sweet little piece that I put on some rail road ties and steel scrubbies. 

 I don't know how I feel about it, it's a bit too something something for me.  Geometric, maybe?  

  

I love this.  It's a sleeve from a horrifying lilac linen jacket - plus sized with a very unflattering cut - it needed a change.  I laid it on top of a steel screen from our outdoor fire pit.  

I love the all over pattern from it.  

This sleeve I wrapped around a rusty wrench with some various washers and metal doo-dads added in.  Its pretty cool, too.

Psychedelic man!

And here's the shirt.  I think I like it.  I put it on a drain cover that I found on the side of the road several years ago.  I picked it up because...just because.  

This is the back.  I like the front better than the back.  I covered the stain I wanted to cover.  But all over, I'm not nuts about the look.  It looks stained more than dyed.

Here's the apron with my bonus shadow.  The apron just looks dirty to me.

Up close, if I were to take the time to appreciate the details, I like them.

But parts also just seem dirty to me.  I think I like the all over patterns better.  The splotchy bits don't work for me at all.  

Next time - and there will be a next time - I might pick up some iron oxide powder.  You can sprinkle it on the fabric and it colors more of it.  I'm hoping the color will look more intentional.  

Also, it took more than 24 hours because we moved the rusty pieces around to different parts of fabrics to dye more of it.  The difference between vinegar and salt was only in the smell.  I didn't see a difference.  

We learned a ton.  We'll be trying this out again maybe on a smaller scale.  I laid out a tarp in the driveway and it took up lots of space.  Jennifer came up with the idea of just putting a piece in a plastic bin.  We could always have a piece rusting if we chose to.  It takes up less space and probably wouldn't stain the drive way.  Oh yeah, I stained the driveway.