stainless steel ring - monoprint

2025

Making jewellery and chain links with street sweeper bristles necessitates annealing the found steel. This results in iron fire scale, which presents as brittle rust chips that fall as I work the metal, scattering on the bench and forming piles of 'rust dust'. As I sought a way to fix my rust patterns onto a paper surface, I realised a a ferro-tannic ink recipe, made using more collected rust dust, could be the key. As an amateur calligrapher, I know that iron is a key dye component of old-fashioned ink recipes. Iron in vinegar, or iron acetate, can be a substitute for the commonly used 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.

Ferrotannic ink (made by the artist from iron firescale, vinegar and red wine) on Arches 300gsm 100% cotton paper

23 x 31 cm