Portfolio of older work

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Composting Fabric

Did I tell  you last spring when I put some fabric into the compost heap to see what would happen?  I tore some white cotton fabric into strips of varying widths and the width of the fabric.  I then wrapped the fabric strips around some old copper pipes.  I laid the fabric-wrapped pipes into my compost pile in the backyard and ignored them for several months.

Cold weather is quickly approaching in Maine so I decided it was time to pull the pipes out and see what had happened. Well, first, the fabric-wrapped pipes were covered with..ahh... compost.  I guess I should not have been surprised but boy were they yucky. I had to do some cleaning before I could even get them to the tub.  Here they are fresh out of the compost pile.
Then they went into the tub for a shower and a soaking.  While trying to rub off the yuck, the fabric was sloughing off in little slimy clumps.  When the fabric/pipes were as clean as I could get them, I sat them on end to dry for a few days.  Next step was to carefully, very gingerly, unwrap the fabric from the pipe. Second step was to iron the fabric flat so I could see what I had.  Oh my! Here are some samples of the fabric now.   I do like them!


 
Here is a beginning of a quilt using the fabric.
Here is a beginning of a quilt using the fabric.

4 comments:

  1. They look wonderful, like something you would find if you unwrapped a mummy. :)Bea

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  2. I love it. I can see all kinds of significance in the disintegration of the fabric. Kind of like what is happening to 90% of the people in our country.

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  3. I really like these. Will we see some hand stitching on these?

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  4. Love these. Well worth that peeling-off time! On the dark background is perfect.

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