Last weekend, I experimented with applying dry powdered tannin on fabric before the rust has formed. Very interesting! It will be added to my repertoire of rust-dyeing techniques.

Notice the dark gray in the piece above. Below, you can see what it looks like without any tannin at all.

The hearts are more obvious here than they were in the piece with the tannin. That will guide my decision about when to apply the powdered tannin.

This piece was rusted with fine steel wool and sprinkled with tannin powder. I love the crystal effect in the tannin!

This one has iron filings and powdered tannin. I really like the depth of dark color. That depth had eluded me with the tannin-bath technique.

Four 1-yard pieces were treated with different rust sources and then sprinkled with powdered tannin. They "marinated" for 24 hours, were air dried, washed with Synthrapol, and then with textile softener.

The element of serendipity is still high, which I like very much.

This last piece is a result of handling a fabric packet with tannin dust on my rubber gloves. Guess I should have washed the gloves before handling the packet, but I rather like the results!