Experiments with Rusted Paper

Welcome to my blog. My thanks to Carolyn Durgin for her help in setting up this page. I thought I'd share my latest experiments with rusted paper. I got the idea from Val Foster, a fellow member of Mile High Book Arts. Start with a piece of rusted metal and spray it with a water and vinegar mix. Sprinkle salt over the metal and lay a piece of paper over it. (I do all of this in a plastic bag because it is quite messy. The bag contains the mess and it has the added bonus of rusting the bag, which in turn coats the side of the paper not touching the metal). I do spritz the paper with the vinegar and water mix before laying the paper on the metal. Put a weight over the plastic bag. You can use a heavy book, though I confess to keeping my plastic bag on the floor and just walking on it while working on other things. Results vary by the length of time the paper is left on the metal. For a slight brown wash that looks like walnut ink stained paper let the paper cure one or two hours. For best results leave overnight. What kinds of things can you rust? Use your imagination!! The pictures above show gold metallic tissue paper, a hand dyed paper towel given to me by Nancy Brill, a hymnal page and some baby wipes that I had used for clean up on another project. My friend Val has done plain paper, maps, burlap and muslin. I will definitely post more results as I go. I hope you try it and let me know how your papers turn out. Have Fun!!!