Materials – Page 21 – Everything is Not Black and White

Rust Dyeing and Stained by the Past

Last night I was reading through a few blogs that I subscribe to, and ran across reference to rust dyeing. I snagged loads of oxidized bits from my Dad’s shop that might work nicely.

metal bits

Of course I would want to place the items so the images left behind make coded messages.

It is interesting that the techniques mentioned are not all that different from some techniques used to apply patina to metal. One site suggested placing the wet fabric wrapped around metal in a plastic bag. Sounds a bit like fuming to me.

I wonder why I hadn’t thought of using patination techniques as a transfer method. I have rusted metal bits that remained in pieces. They were either rusted first or after they were bound into the piece.

Detail of a work in progress–Stained by the Past

A few highlights of what I found–

Vinegar is used straight or as a 50/50 with water, bath or in a mist bottle

Contact time can be a day to 5 days. Variables would include the color and type of the fabric used, and the type of rust applied, amount of saturation of fabric. Misted fabric would dry quicker than fabric that has been saturated and placed in a plastic bag or container to keep fabric damp.

Neutralizing the rust process requires saturating the rusted on fabric with a saline solution, and a washing. The saline solution can be as weak as 1 tablespoon to a gallon of water.

On The Natural Dye Notebook I found a technique for making a rust solution that can be applied with a brush to fabric.

Mix a small amount natural rust with water, I generally use one teaspoon rust to one cup liquid, or with soy milk…

Green Willow Studio

Artstitches

Hobbyfarms.com

Coins

I enjoy interesting art on coins, stamps, vegetable stickers…

Today I ran across this coin amongst my stuff, but have no recollection where it came from.

Unknown Coin

I found this coin when I was in grad school.

1956 Italian Coin Front
I like that the guy is a metal worker of sorts, but safety should require protective gear.

Very cool that it was minted in 1956.
1956 Italian Coin Back

Also minted in 1956.
1956 Penny

How cool would it be if one of the members of the NY School used this quarter to pay for coffee?
1945 Quarter

There are a variety of eagles on coins. This one seems about to take flight.
1921 Dollar

I received the dollar during a purchase in Marion, Ohio. The idea is to post it on the website and then send it back out into the world. I liked the little bunny and have kept it in my wallet for several years.

Bunny on Dollar

I bound a penny and fired it to 1250ºF thinking that it was copper. I was hoping for a bit of slumping. When I researched the composition of pennies I found that they are primarily zinc. So, not surprising that the coin melted at a lower temperature.
Fired Penny

From the United States Mint site–

The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc).

Penny, Penny…

There is progress, but it is taking so long to complete the project. I haven’t had loads of time for studio work. I was away because of family stuff and I have been working on several app projects. Can only manage a couple of studio hours in the evening.

The blocks are tacked in place and now I am stitching them onto the background. Pretty sure that I will not be happy with the stitching until it is more substantial. Perhaps a knot at every hole–3 on each side, would mean 12 knots for each of the 252 blocks or 3,024 knots.

Binding

I haven’t yet decided how I will “age” the piece. Currently leaning toward wax with heat or flame. I do love to torch things. I will need to make some test pieces to see how the materials behave.

There is also the possibility of using asphaltum, which is somewhat consistent with roofing felt and tree wrap. In the past when I used asphaltum I willy-nilly mixed it with shellac and applied it with a brush.

Or sugar. Sugar has been used as a stiffener for crochet work. I gave it a go several years back. Made a cotton open weave vessel.

6″ x 5.5″ x 6″
1 part water with 2 parts Sugar (I used a raw sugar so it did change the color of the cord)
Heated to dissolve, but didn’t boil. This takes a little time.

I left the hot sugar in the pot and tossed in the piece to saturate the cord.
Blocked it over a jar covered with foil and placed a piece of plastic under. This is pretty drippy stuff.

The vessel has maintained its form, and has not attracted ants.

See a Penny Blocks Attached…

The blocks have been tacked on. Need to let the piece rest. Then a check to make sure the code is correct
Blocks Attached

I noticed that a couple of the blocks representing dots have the binding vertical rather than horizontal.
Detail
Will need to correct that. It is important that the texture of the tree wrap and binding be horizontal for proper alignment with the blocks representing dashes and spacers.

Work In Progress–See A Penny…

Tonight completed all 180 “blocks” for my current Make Your Own Luck piece.

Blocks

The plan is to attach the blocks to a piece of 1″ hardware cloth to make the piece more stable and stronger for hanging. Since the “blocks” are approximately 1 3/4″ there will be space between for a reinforced stitched border.

One Inch Hardware Cloth

Graphite

All the hole punching caused the screw punch to freeze up a bit. Graphite solved the problem.

Work In Progress–See A Penny Day 2…

“Blocks” to use for dots, dashes, and spacers.

See a Penny Day 2

75 Spacers Completed–Hardware Cloth, Roofing Felt, Cotton Twine, and Pennies from the 90s

To Complete–61 Dots and 44 Dashes.

Work In Progress–See A Penny…

I am in the process of cutting, punching, and assembling components for a piece that will be a continuation of my Make Your Own Luck series.

Often I work directly on hardware cloth, but for this piece I decided to make separate components to be assembled rather like quilt blocks.

I cut 180 pieces of 1/2″ hardware cloth. Each piece is 3 squares by 3 squares, and will be bound between a layer of tree wrap and roofing felt.

Hardware Cloth

There will be three components to represent dots, dashes, or spacers in the coded message–See a penny, pick it up, all the day have good luck. Each dot and dash component will have a piece of mirror, and each spacer will have a penny bound to it. Haven’t decided on the needlework for the components.

Layout

Since I will be making over 2,000 holes I tried different hole punches to find which works best for the job. I used the Martha Stewart Screw Punch, the hole punch my husband used when he was a paperboy, and the punch I used for palm bark.

Punches

Each punch worked great considering the material. I found that the screw punch worked best when punching holes in more than one layer. I was able to use the screw punch with either hand, so when my dominant hand became weary I switched to my helper hand.

Since the materials are a tad sticky I frequently cleaned the punch bit with a needle tool.

Make sure when using any sharp tool that you keep clear of anything that might bleed.

Holes

A Perfect Environment for Moths

I suspected that at some point, I would create the perfect environment for some type of insect. When you have loads of dried plant materials and fiber it is rather likely some critters will move in.

Moth 1

This is a detail of a work in progress. It would have been a cup made of wool and rayon that I just couldn’t manage to finish. The head of a straight pin is in the upper left of the photo, and the tip of a pin is next to the casemaking moth.

How Did I Find Moths?

I read an article that stated empty birds’ nests should be removed from around your house because casemaking moths might take up residence. I had a collection of nests containing little vignettes in my studio. When I checked them, I found casemaking moths. After the shock wore off, and the sinking feeling that everything in my studio might be destroyed; I methodically started the hunt for the critters. I discarded materials and several works in progress.

I did a test to see if I can save a piece if it is found to have moths. I soaked some works in progress that had been attacked by moths in vinegar for a couple of days, rinsed in water, and laid them in the sun. My hope is that if there were eggs, they were killed.

The vinegar soaking changed the appearance of the pieces. I bind fiber onto washers for use as coding components. The bottom row was soaked in vinegar. The washers are not the same type, but they have a similar composition. The fiber is wool that sustained a color change due to the oxidation of the metal. The change in color of the cream wool is not to my liking, so the solution would be to age the washers, then bind them.

washers

If the same or similar result occurs the next time I use a vinegar bath, I’m pretty sure that I will use the technique in the future to age some pieces. It is simple and non-toxic.

I found the casemaker moths–

on the back of a framed piece
on older books, the bits facing the wall
in the bottom of a bowl that contained components for projects
in baskets of materials
on woven pieces
around baseboards
behind doors
under furniture
even inside a spare pair of work shoes

Some insects are attracted to a particular color, fragrance or pheromone, or a location. I did not find a pattern or consistency in where they made their homes.

Moth 2

And it does not seem to matter if the fiber was impregnated with wax or shellac. It may be too early to tell, but I do not think that they took up residence in or on any of my work that was treated with salt.

This is the edge of a piece of foam core that I used for a photo set-up.
Moth 3

For More Information From Reliable Sources–

Casemaking Clothes Moth AgriLife Extension Texas A&M

Clothes Moths by Mike Potter, Extension Entomologist, University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture

Clothes Moths University of California Agriculture & Natural Resources, Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program

Environmental Art

Early on in my education at Ohio State University, I became aware of artists who would go to a site and use the materials present on that site to make a work. Often the work appeared as though it occurred naturally.

I had a romantic notion of visiting the woods near my parents’ home, connect with the site, and make a work. When I attempted it, I realized right off that I wasn’t alone. There were snakes, mosquitos, and ticks, all of which creeped me out.

I recently read about Stuart Wood’s environmental work on the Studio ‘g’ blog. The images of his scorched patterns on trees gave me pause. I like the idea of using a scorching process to alter a material. And that controlling a potentially destructive process can result in something beautiful.

Stuart Wood's Bandelier

When I visited Stuart Wood’s website I found many gorgeous pieces. And I admit that I found myself saying out loud, “…really, seagull feathers.”

Stuart Wood's Alsomitra

Is it Toxic?

I often use dried plant parts in my work. Typically the plants must have some interesting tactile quality, be toxic, and have a cultural myth or superstition. I was looking through a stash of dried plant parts and found some Haworthia limifolia leaves. They have great texture with sharp and pointy tips.

Haworthia

I googled Haworthia limifolia looking for information. I was a bit disappointed that the plant isn’t toxic. Apparently it is often used in place of Aloe for skin ailments. I did find a line that popped up in several articles, “Haworthia limifolia is often used by traditional healers as a spiritual remedy to ward off evil.” Curious. What kind of evil?

I have a contact at the UC Botanical Garden so I sent him an email inquiry about the plant. The plant is one that he gave to me several years back. He sent me a pdf of an article that I hadn’t read, Lightning Birds and Thunder Trees authored by Adrian Koopman. The article states that Haworthia is used as a charm to protect against lightning.

We don’t see much in the way of lightning where I live. Before reading about the plant’s reference to lightning, I had already bound the bits to a piece of hardware cloth to become part of a lid. My work must have the appearance of a life lived, so I age the work using one or more techniques–wax, heat, fire, salt, molten sugar, chemicals… and sometimes I bury the work.

Haworthia for Lid