The ploughed fields are developing and some of my work yesterday could be translated into textiles. I focussed on the tractor tracks and would like to enlarge them to abstract the shapes and tones they make. When considering this idea for my techniques I can see it translating into wax resist and I could make a tool to represent the rectangular shape of the treed but can only see screen printing as the way forward to work on a larger scale and be precise. However I collected a bagful of rusty bits and pieces from our family farm and one of the samples really relates to the furrows and as I have a lot of the blades which made the shape it would work on a repeat larger scale piece. So here are two of my rust resist trials:

Rusty nails bolts washers etc laid onto cotton and sprayed with  water/vinegar.
The blade below is one of several tyne shears from a harrow used by my father and grandfather!

I used 2 blades as I wasn't sure if there was enough rust but as the results show 1 would have been sufficient! Look out for the 'hole' detail!

 

The iron has transferred colour as well as the rusted areas which give lovely details and texture. I can see this colour texture combination translating into the work I am doing with ploughed fields.                                                      Very pleased.                                                   The nails  and bolts were rolled but I think I should have just laid the cotton over them and you can see from the 'unrolling' that I probably over did the spraying! .                                                 

However when the cotton had been washed in salty water to neutralise the vinegar then a soapy wash individual shapes can be seen so useful reference for the future. The washers being flat make distinct shapes.                                              

The fabric makes me think of the furrows I saw in the ploughed fields and the lines give the prints a 3 dimensional effect which could be developed with stitch, quilting or even screen printing. I want to introduce a foil into my piece for the Bishops Prize and am thinking of the metal ores we get from the earth and a human form reaching up as 'the meek inherit the Earth'.

After the neutralising and washing this is ready for further development. Now to use the blades on a scarf and look at my designs to see how to use within a design rather than random prints.