Rust

This is a piece of cotton organdy rusting. It is for a new piece, and I will use it with a fused glass plate. Here, the nails are stuck through the organdy into a piece of foam core and the whole bit is put in a tray of water for a day or two. The organdy is so sheer that it is difficult to see under the water in the photo. There are four pieces of fabric to rust, and although they are small pieces, the rusting takes some time. In a sense, rusting is a way to visibly record the passage of time. The process is not unlike exposing (old-fashioned wet) photography paper to light – the longer the exposure the darker the image. With the rust, the longer the fabric is left in the water, the larger and darker the spots will be. I like the notion that the rusting captures time in a way… it would be nice if it would slow time down!

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