Remember those experiments in rust dyeing the FFA group did?  Here is what one of them ended up being.

The Fast Friday Fabric Challenge for this month was fungus. I remember the days of dampening ironing to wait for pressing. If you forgot it too long, it ended up looking like this light teal linen napkin. So it ended up as the focal point for my piece.

The black areas were the result of experimenting with additions to the rusted fabric. I got some pretty interesting designs, some intentional, some accidental. I started with embroidering areas of rust to separate them and contain them into form. I was careful to keep the eye moving through the piece. next I free motion quilted the least rusted forms. 

It was okay but needed more. Then I thought of the really moldy food you get either in the back of the fridge that looks like science experiments gone wrong, or that sock that was left inside your child’s wet boot since it rained last month…..I knew it needed some chunky pieces of mold and dimension so beading was added. That one took me an entire week.

I don’t usually frame my work with borders but this seemed to need it. With fabric and some rust dyed vintage trim I created my idea of a fancy gold frame. Sort of a tongue in cheek that this beauty in nature needed to be presented as fine art.