Inspiration Avenue Challenge: Bake

I'm not sure what Lisa from Wright Stuff was thinking when she challenged us with "Bake" for Inspiration Avenue this week, but I know this has been the hottest week on record in Kansas, and we have either tied or beaten the all time heat record three times this week, including a freak heat wave that happened right after midnight Tuesday in which the temperature went from 85 degrees F to 102 degrees F in 20 minutes (and stayed at that temperature throughout the day). So for me, it was the perfect time to do a little baking outside. Of course, it took all week to "bake" my project. You might need to click on the photos to see the whole picture (since some of them came out quite large).



I started with my already rusty water, to which I gathered fabrics that I thought might take the rust well. The pieces in this bucket are from an old railroad track (railroad ties and nails), and are not decorative. Be aware of the gloves I have on top of the fabric. This is something you will need ANY and every time you work with rust. If you don't, the rust attacks the hemoglobin in your blood and does a bunch of nasty stuff to it (I will leave the scientific details to the chemists).



The first day I wrapped the various fabric pieces around the rusty iron railroad ties, then added more water to the bucket and set it in the sun of my driveway.



After allowing the fabric to sit in the rusty mix for two days,



I removed the fabric. At the same time, I discovered some can lids were in the water, so I allowed them to dry along with the railroad ties. Once dry,



I returned them to the bucket for one more day of wet fun in the sun, but the sun was gone and the next day (Thursday) it started to rain and produced back to back to back (yep 3) tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings, coupled with high winds and large hail.



In order for these pieces to be safe to use in any fabric related artwork, I washed them in vinegar water baking soda water to set the rust and allow the rusty fabric to be safe to use in my art. Because I wanted to dry these pieces without them being saturated with rain, I laid them out on my porch desk, instead of hanging them on my clothes line, and waited for them to dry. Note the gloves in the photo that I removed to take pictures. Once the fabric is dry, it will be safe to handle.



When the fabric was dry, I folded the pieces and admired my newly baked project. Note again the gloves I used until the fabric pieces were completely dry. This baked project took five days, but it was fun to "bake" some rust into various fabrics. Thanks Lisa for the challenge, even though my take on "bake" is a bit out in left field.