mild steel ring - monoprint
I make chain with street sweeper bristles, after annealing the hardened found steel. One result is iron fire scale; brittle rust chips that fall as I work the metal, scattering on the bench and forming piles of 'rust dust'.
One day in the studio I started to collect my inadvertent rust drawings by working over paper. As an amateur calligrapher, I know that iron is a key dye component of old-fashioned ink recipes. Further research pointed to a variation on the centuries old ferro-tannic ink which I could make by immersing my rust dust in vinegar to make iron acetate, a workable substitute for the more common ingredient, iron sulfate.
I have now made an ink that records the pattern of fallen fire-scale onto paper, and in this case, the location of other iron placed in the centre of the paper before treatment - a ring.
Year2025 MediumFerrotannic ink (made by the artist from iron firescale, vinegar and red wine) on Arches 300gsm 100% cotton paper Dimensions23 x 31 cm Seriesrcw rust monoprint
