While at home for Thanksgiving, I decided to raid my dad's workbench for some rusty fasteners. Needless to say there was no shortage of such things. He looked at me suspiciously, trying to figure out why I would want to take such things off his hand, although happy to unload these random objects he had kept.
The goal? To dye fiber with rust. I used felt as my first trial, because I had leftovers from the dye fest I had, and the next trial will definitely be cotton.
So I formed a solution of vinegar and water, doused the felt with it and placed it on a plastic tray.
Then added steel wool and some nuts and added more of the solution and covered it in plastic wrap to keep in the smell. Oxygen is very important for the reaction, so it should not be perfectly sealed.
The next day, I took off the plastic wrap and rinsed everything off in a bucket of water and salt to neutralize the solution.
