I’ve been holding onto rusted pieces of metal for years ... I have a wonderful old iron pot, suitable for cooking soup for a crowd over an open fire, but horribly - or wonderfully - loaded with rust. If I'm to use it for cooking, I'll need to do some serious re-seasoning. I have some large sheets of rusted metal which used to be a table top. The base of that table, also rusted, is a wonderful curlicue and will live on the deck (probably) once it gets a new top. There are also some interesting pieces of old machinery and several bags filled with small rusted geegaws of one sort or another. Family members look askance and ask, "Do you really need to keep this stuff? Are you ever going to actually do anything with it?" YES! I am definitely going to do something. But I realize, somewhat miserably, I've been uttering this assurance for so long ... Gawd I am a big-time procrastinator! Or, may I say, at least on the question of using rust, I WAS a big-time procrastinator. Because I have now dipped my toe in the water, by dipping my textile in the water, and then laying it on a rusted piece of metal, splashing it with vinegar, covering it with another piece of rusted metal, and forgetting all about it (something procrastinators are good at) for a while. 

One day I decided it was time to get my lazy bones moving and see how my rust experiment was doing. Wow! It's awesome. I love it. I'll do more, for sure. And I'll share it here.