Maria Simonsson - Rusting

I am working on a project about and with iron. It has been developing in my mind for quite some time.
I come from a region of Sweden where there has been iron industry, or at least iron production for over a thousand years. You can say iron is in my blood.

Apart from loving rusty things, like old nails, I find iron fascinating. It's an important building block of our universe as well as our bodies. So far my explorations have resulted in a collection of rusty iron things and a pile of rusted fabrics. And some jotted notes to follow up on.

I will show you some of the fabrics for now.

Here is a piece of cotton fabric that was previously rusted with reebar in a grid pattern.

Now I have added washers and some nuts.

Here is a close up

And here is the result

Not very sharp rust marks. I didn't immerse the fabric in the vinegar/water mixture. Just spritzed it daily for about a week.

Here is another one

Before

and after

This piece of fabric was wrapped around a reebar rod and tied in place with thin wire that also rusted.

It gives a shibori effect.

And finally a piece where the washers on the fabric actually acted more like resist than rusting agent.

Always surprises.