Rusting Objects

Having found several fragmented objects on my site visits I have been collecting lots of rusting household remnants such as hinges bolts and nails. All things that are akin to those objects I found. below is an example of the current state of the objects and what I hope to achieve.

I have rusted items quickly in the past with a view of making rust prints and I’m keen to use latex to acquire the rust from the objects.

So I sought out a solution called Rusty 3000 (I’m no chemist so this is probably the extent of my chemical experimentation) 16 oz of Hydrogen Peroxide, 2 oz of White Vinegar and a tablespoon of salt. Highly corrosive so rubber gloves were used.

I’ve made two solution baths and placed a door handle in a jam jar.

Below are photos from within the first few minutes.

I removed the door knob from the jam jar so not sure how effective this will be for the door knob in the long run.

After 1 day:

After 2 days:

Leaving it now for a week to let it cook.

Meanwhile I decided to take advantage of the rusty froth and make some prints too.

Reflection

This was a really successful exercise – the liquid was very caustic so I had to be extra careful and this scared me a little bit, however the end results were really good.

I learned that not everything rusts as well and additional things on the surface of the metal can hinder the process – paint for example.

I really liked the bit of video I recorded where I could see the interaction of the liquid with the object and definitely plan to investigate this further.

The greatest challenge would have to be not getting burned – I’m really clumsy at the best of times and working with a caustic liquid was difficult for me.