This is one of the rusty objects which I used to rust my fabric. One of the most successful ones. The washing line, alas, was a damp squid. I ended up taking the fabric off it and leaving it to rust in my studio wrapped round this and a couple of other, more successful, rusty items. I’m leaving it here now to rust a bit more for the next batch.
Incidentally, the vinegar in which I prepared the fabric before rusting it (50:50 with water), was left over from my brief encounter with cloth nappies when my kids were babies. I had a couple of gallons of the stuff. I did it half heartedly for about six weeks for my first child. 13 years ago. Vinegar obviously doesn’t go off – at least for the purposes of rusting fabric… You will be glad to hear that I had no intention of using it for cooking. It was lying, forgotten, in our box room, until rediscovered as an unexpected treasure last April.