still rusting

i have discovered a few things since my last rusting. when my pam and i were dying fabric i thought that i would take a piece of the fabric that i had soaking in the soda ash solution and rust it. after a week there was barely any rusting action going on at all. the piece was virtually rust free. a few days later pam told me she read somewhere not to use soda ash on your fabric prior to rusting because it would retards the rusting. it came to me one night while i was trying to shut off and go to sleep that if i washed the finished rusted fabric with some soda ash in the washer with some very hot water that it would stop the rusting action so as not to cause the fabric to fall apart in a few years. the last wash was with laundry detergent alone.

so far i have liked the results. the fabric is softer with the soda ash after wash than with the salt. more of the actual rust that is on the fabric when you first unwrap it is gone also with the soda ash. i am going to sew some rust fabric to a white piece of fabric and wash it and then iron it wet and see if any wanders over to the white. i will post what happens.