Junk Junkie

OK...I teased you with the previous post (Can this be art....AND art quilting??).  Here is the result and yes...it is an art quilt!!

Again for one of the online groups I participate with - the theme for this year is WHO I AM - Like everyone, I'm quite a few "things". But one for sure is a Junk Junkie. I dumpster dive if I see something that catches my eye, pick up free things off the side of the road, LOVE Freecycle, thrift stores....that about says it. My poor long-suffering husband is at last used to piles of what seems to most people as useless stuff. Both he and my 4 year old granddaughter don't throw anything away unless they ask me first if I need it for an art project. I'm not altogether sure why old junk appeals to me and helps define what kind of person I am or at least what interests me. Probably a bit of the same reason I love falling down buildings. It's like I feel a sense of history and presence from another time. I try to imagine to whom it belonged in the past. Was it loved and cared for or just a utilitarian piece. I have a pile of rusted junk on the side of my house that I'm sure my neighbors question but if they could see this piece they just might understand.

I rusted white cotton fabric and then dyed it a bit with some cerulean blue procion dye. The large border/binding is a hand-dyed cotton of very close to the same blue. Both are from my stash. I wove rusted wire, including various rusty bits and pieces as I went along. Rusted some cotton heavy duty thread to attach the weavings to the quilt. The piece is 10" X 20".
 

JUNK  JUNKIE

JUNK  JUNKIE - detail



I have to say this was a very interesting quilt to make. Metal weaving is a bit more of a challenge than I had anticipated but I do have to say...it was worth it!!

Another AMAZING artist!

OK, you know how I LOVE to rust fabric?!?! Well, just check out this amazing artist named Cal Lane. A friend sent me this link and I have to say I was drooling a bit. The art in itself is so wonderful.....but I kept thinking about what fun it would be to put a piece of vinegar soaked fabric on there!!!

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did. (click on the first picture that shows up and you can see the series of photos)

http://www.callane.com/works.html

Again...it never ceases to amaze me where you can find art!

RUSTING AWAY

Finally I got around to washing, drying and pressing the rust pieces I did for an upcoming swap. I have been fortunate to find some really interesting pieces of rusty metal and it is fun to see the effect it has on the fabric. I did four different pieces. Below are three pictures for each piece 1) the rusty metal I used, 2) the fabric on the metal and 3) the final results.

The small and large grate pieces got an additional design element I didn't know about. When spraying them with vinegar to keep them wet they developed run lines on them. I think it adds a whole other piece of the "old and rusty" concept.

SMALL GRATE





LARGE GRATE





STRIP METAL WITH HOLES (I found this one along side the road)







BABY BED SPRINGS (purchased at a garage sale and stripped down to the metal)









BONUS - Not a rusty piece, but while I was washing I decided to throw in a piece of my black hand-dyed fabric that I had been using to clean up after a few discharge sessions. I LOVE the way it turned out - really serendipity because I have no idea which dye I used on the original black piece.