Milk Paint, Painting (Unicorn!)

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Milk paint! This is my first attempt at doing what i call a "real" painting using only organic milk paints. I wish when I went to school for art we had been taught more about our art supplies and less about outdated techniques & critiques. I never needed the technique lessons (or wasn't interested), but certainly it would have been eye opening to see how toxic paints were made, and learn some alternatives to them.
This milk paint is tricky to use as an artist paint, because of the way it dries and has to be stored, and used within a certain time frame. I happen to paint fast, but anyone who likes to take their time will most likely have to mix the paint each time in small batches... which isn't hard, just add (alot of) SUPER HOT water and stir it up. it is time consuming - but that can be fun too... i mean, the famous artists back in the days of old made all their own shit, they didn't pop over to the mass manfactured art store!
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This painting is done on scrap canvas/tapestry type fabric, using only 100% organic milk paint. The video below shows the process.







Xoxoxox

DIY: Sew An Organic Sweater (with hoody!)

Armed with some sustainable Organic Cotton Fleece and Bamboo fabric I decided to take the challenge of making my own organic sweater for the winter. Organic clothing can be really pricey, most times far out of the range most people want to spend and when it comes to organic cotton winter wear it's even worse...although worth the $$$ to those with sensitive skin, chem sensitivities or eco minded ethics, sometimes we just can't pay $100 to stay warm.
This is why DIY sewing skillz can be a big money saver, not to mention a lil' creative fun. I am not the best at sewing to be honest, each project is a lesson...
so here is what I learned & how I did it....
I took a shirt I made a few years ago, and used it to make a new pattern.
When making a pattern from a garment you already own here are two important tips:

• Make sure to trace extra room at all the seams where you will be sewing (see pic below)
• Check for differences in the fabric, like stretch vs. not so stretchy and adjust accordingly

Once you trace your pattern cut it out with scissors.
I cut out the body part and the sleeves separate, because I planned on sewing them together later.

THE HOODY ::::

Making a hoody is actually super easy, like making a basic pillow!

Trace a hoody you already have, which will make a pattern for one side of the hoody. Both sides will match and be sewn together.

You can always test the paper pattern on your head to make sure it will fit, and to see how long the neck part may need to be to meet the back of your sweater.

Lay out all your pieces on the fabric and make sure you have enough. I ended up not having enough purple organic cotton fleece for the hoody and used more bamboo fabric instead.

To make cutting out the pattern you made easier, pin it down to the fabric. I totally hate this part for some reason and always try to find ways to get out of it... but it never turns out right without those pins holding it right in place.

Once the pins are in, you can cut out the fabric pieces that will be sewn together.

I doubled the fabric so that I could cut out the back and front of the sweater all together.

I then took my sweater cut outs, and pinned them to the bamboo fabric I wanted to use as a warm smooth lining inside the organic cotton sweater.

TIME TO SEW ::::

I made the sleeves separate, and after sewing together the seams for the body part of the sweater, i added on the sleeves.

I did a tight zig zag stitch on the outside of the sweater so that it could have that cute handmade look.

The hoody got cut out and sewn on last....

END RESULT #1 ::::

The sweater is SO amazingly soft and warm, but was feeling a little tight because the fleece didn't have much stretch... (some organic cotton does and some doesn't, bamboo typically stretches.)I could have taken out the inner seams and loosened it up, but then i got another idea!!!

NEW IDEA! :::::

I cut down the entire front of the sweater and sewed some zig zag seams along those sides to hold in the bamboo lining.

Then I took the bone awl Urban Scout made me (see pic below) to punch holes evenly along those seams.

I used the bamboo lining scraps to create a corset, lace up front for the sweater that way the size could adjust with my needs.

ADorabLe & SeXy!! It has a hardcore fairy feel to it now, and I like it even better. :)))

END RESULT #2 :::

Yes? Yes!

Xoxoxoxoxoxo

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FABRICS BY :

The Bamboo Fabric Store, see more.

Near Sea Naturals (who now carry Spiritex local organic cotton), see more.

Re-Painting My Cabinets With Milk Paint

I finally got around to painting the old cabinets that were here in the Luck Cabin, although they were not fancy/special I decided they were still functional & good enough to use. I even liked the color variations painted on them, but now that I have discovered the fun, bright and non toxic colors of milk paint I can hardly help myself--- i wanna paint EVerYthinG!
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BEFORE THE MILK PAINT :::::::
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The cabinets were originally all in one weird kitchen set up - which I broke up into two rooms so that the Luck Cabin could have a bathroom. I left the cabinets where they were on the walls and included them in the rooms they ended up in. :)

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PAINTING WITH MILK PAINT::::::

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I took all the cabinet doors off and painted them "salem red" (see top pic)- using the Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co.'s earth pigmented powders meant for covering up prior paint jobs, called Safe Paint. The safe paint is the same formula as the original & ancient milk paint recipe, with variations on the quantities of ingredients - this makes it so it is stronger, richer color, mold resistant, and can be applied over old toxic paints, glass, metal and plastic!

For my cabinets, I wanted a fun nature themed design added- so I decided to add silhouettes in "federal blue" against the brightness of the red. I used a sharp matte knife blade to cut them out of magazines and computer printed pictures.

Once I had them cut out I verrrrry carefully applied the paint through the cut out picture, making sure to hold down tight each little portion while applying the milk paint with a sponge brush. If you use something more stiff to trace and cut out your shapes you don't have to be as rigid, but with paper cut outs, the paper may stick to the paint, so it's important to go slow.

WaY Freakin' COooooL !!!

Each door has a different animal, and one has a tree! My bathroom is native animals and the kitchen is more exotic themed. :)

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AFTER THE MILK PAINT DRIED :::::::::

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LOve it! I can not really recommend this kind of paint enough - I dont know any paint that can do a job this beautiful that also has ZERO environmental effects on water, soil, nature etc... it is made from entirely natural sources, that I believe makes milk paint as clean and eco as it gets.

PS- I know my kitchen is kinda a mess, I swear I cleaned it up after I took this! ;)

Xoxoxoxo

Milk Paint Is the BEST Paint Eva'!

Ya'll like my wonder woman colored shutter doors for my bathroom? (My mom doesn't! ha) .... but I am in LOVE with the vibrant beautiful colors of milk paint. Yeah, for realz, that stuff is made of a simple ancient recipe using milk and powdered lime, with natural earth pigments..... AKA: Non toxic, No VOC, safe for the sensitive, and antique looking!

I didn't make the milk paint myself, but instead bought it for a good price online from the Old Fashioned Milk Paint Company. I knew milk paint didn't bother me once it was dry, but I had never had a chance to paint with it myself - and I found out that not only was it so non toxic it didn't bother me, but I actually had fun! SO much fun, that I started painting everything with it ----> bat houses, bird houses, little pieces of wood, I made a painting of a tree... I had to control myself from just painting all over the whole house and making a mess.

There are two formulas of milk paint you can buy and since I have been experimenting with both and leaving some stuff inside , some out in the weather, let me tell ya'll what the difference means in real terms:::::

***The Original Milk Paint - This stuff is awesome, and it holds up just fine inside even in an house with no air conditioning .... BUT my craft projects I used it on that were exposed to weather started to mold some. So use it inside, not outside where something will get wet.

***Safe Paint (Milk Paint) - This stuff is just as non toxic and VOC free, but they altered the formula so that it adheres to more surfaces, and let me tell ya it totally works without molding at all. Even in the rain. Milk paint used in a plastic bucket from last year that was left out in the rain still has the coating of millk paint on it, so does the metal pan - both left outside in the weather. Of all my birdhouses I painted, the "safe paint" version is the brightest colored and hasn't molded at all. The company told me this paint can be used on metal & glass surfaces too, which is really amazing.

I won't go back to using any other paint (not even the No VOC regular paints) ever again, I seriously love milk paint! Even though it takes more care, it's not all that hard to mix up.
It comes in a powder form and if you add hot/warm water it won't curdle. The deal is as it gets cold it can curdle and the company encourages using a cake batter thingy to smash it up or a electric paint mixer. I just used hot water and a stick and whooped it really hard. :)

I found that the colors mix really well together, almost like painting with acrylics! I plan on making some really cool art with this stuff - next project is going to be a mural on my bedroom ceiling of night turning into day, starting with the constellations, and ending in clouds & blue sky. yay!

Xoxoxo

For My MCS Peeps: This Is Progress!

People who have never experienced a chemical injury or some kind of health breakdown that causes a person to get Multiple Chemical Sensitivites may find this post a little weird... So be for-warned, let your judgments and confusion take a nap while ya keep on reading.
For those of you who have MCS, ya might have to let your judgments go too, cause I am about to talk about the most hotly debated and taboo topic in the MCS crowd - and that is about healing & possibly being cured. Yeah, i said the "C" word, and now I am gonna tell you what I really think....

Some of us who developed MCS know exactly what happened, you might have been exposed to chemical in your workplace and then watched your health take a spiral into a housebound hell, you may have been renovating your home and didn't recover, you may have been a gulf war veteran who was lied to until recently about pills you were administered, or a 911 victim...... or maybe an average person like me who was exposed to various things over time and happen to have an auto immune disease that caused enough damage to make the normal body functions take a dive 6 feet under.
However you got to the stage of MCS, no matter how hard you had to fight to be understood and never truly were by everyone... there is also this point of acceptance and letting go - letting the label of being "sensitive" be as big a deal as having brown hair.

Over the years my symptoms of MCS kinda took up and down dives, with being only generally sick when going into K-mart (who isn't sick in that place?), or when exposed directly to fresh paint, or loud amounts of perfume. These things bordered on normal, and didn't stop me from at least hanging out at thrift stores. But nearly 5 years ago I got pregnant, and very sick - when I lost the baby my mild MCS turned into raging impossible to deal with every smell makes me wanna pass out and kill people so I must hide in the woods MCS. It was so intolerable that I could no longer drive without having seizures, I could not stand for my X boyfriend to come home from the store and get near me with his smelly clothes, I could not hang out with or visit any other humans, or go anywhere in public. After nearly a year of this kind of hell-ish reclusive life, I ventured out....
I didn't go sticking my head inside of paint cans or huff glue, but I decided if the world was going to kill me, then Fuck It! Let it kill me while I am living my life and doing what I want --->
I started off slow and made small goals. Each time I reached a small goal (like buy a lottery ticket at a gas station 2 blocks away), I would set the bar higher and further till I was working on a more functional level. 4 years later.... look at the picture at the top of this post, that is me AT A PARTY that included alot of people, bon fire, some people smoking ect....

Two things I noticed over these years :::::

1. MCS is not in your head, people react to nasty shit in our environment as a natural part of our body's function.
2. I (my body) was so used to reacting, there was some auto-anxiety involved... not 'in my head' but anxiety that was learned and out of control. Anxiety bad enough to be confused - like was it a symptom or anxiety causes me discomfort?

The reason I bring this up is cause there are a few things I have done over the years that I believe have helped me improve. I am not cured, but since I am always on a steady upswing and will never give up I thought I would just jot down the things I felt were helpful to me - no matter how controversial they may be (and knowing everyone's body will need their own personal combo of things to heal!)
1. I got on the macrobiotic diet. I did not eat bad before that, in fact I have eaten all organic & whole foods long before health problems, but this diet has some really helpful ways to keep your foods appropriate for your ailments, the seasons, your body tempature, and healing in general. Over time I branched out and added back in some whole foods not strictly on this diet, but ones that help improve my energy and give me a greater variety of nutrients.

2. I got outta my head. This one will undoubtedly make some people with MCS upset cause it's not a head disease, but with any health problems sometimes the best thing we can do is get the hec outta our own way and STOP for da' love of gawd thinking about sickness, what causes sickness, how we got sick, being mad we got sick, blaming the world we got sick... ect (you know the thoughts I am talking about!) I had to start thinking about life and my dreams, and not about "sickness" stopping my life.

3. Risks. I am not recommending anyone with MCS do anything to put themselves in harms way, but for me I had to take some risks to find out what my real limits were. With all the other helpful things i was doing for my health (clean house, clean diet, homeopathic detox, being nice to myself) there would come a time when new limits needed to be tested if I was to ever be able to branch out and do anything beyond my own backyard. Each time I took a successful risk (no matter how many were unsuccessful) I was able to do that much more and that did wonders for my mental health too.

4. Homoepathic/Medicinal stuff. I tried about a billion things, but the only stuff I used that worked for helping de-tox my body in a gentle way were homeopathic pills for kids (Newton brand) and eating shittake mushrooms (takes out heavy metal and junk real gentle, easy and tastes good too!) I don't like taking pills, of any kind and I did best when I stopped taking all the pills recommended to me and just took the one homeopathic or nothing at all.

5. I got a therapist! Hell yeah I did, because being sick is not easy to deal with and it turned out I learned amazing skills and coping methods that reduced tons of stress in my life and I only had to go for a short period of time before i learned to support myself emotionally and forgive and live again. What I learned in therapy about how to deal with being sick, rolled over into every relationship for the better.

6. Exercise!! No matter what, even if it's hard and makes ya fatigued. I did this even when bed ridden and at my worst, getting the body moving and the blood circulating is your ticket to wellness.

7. Nice Home Environment. It never needed to be the Taj Mahal for MCS'ers, just had to not be freshly painted or super disgusting - I moved around more times then I can count on two hands and generally my house plants cleaned the air good enough each time. The really important part for me was not living right in a city (too much pollution), to have fresh air outside, to open my windows, to walk in the woods, to grow my own food, and have animals around me.

8. Brain re-training. I KNOW, this is the one people in the MCS community have been either seething with hate over, praising, arguing, or banning... but I tried it. Let me just tell ya'll, i didn't even watch all the CD's for the Gupta Program but only up until the specific exercise to re-train your brain and I started doing the exercise immediately everyday. Did i do it like 20 times a day like he suggests? NO way maybe like once a day... nor did i do any of his meditations and all those suggestions on how to breathe cause I already had enough self help like that in my bag of tricks. But when I had a majorly bad thought about being sick, or bad symptoms I did the exercise and then moved on. Brain re-training helped me, I can't put my finger on it but once i started thinking in a positive direction and got my brain outta auto-sick mind my bravery and ability to do things doubled up ten fold times 100!
This method has helped me tons with my newest challenge, and that is I am trying to learn to drive a car again after 5 years of being home bound! (See pic above!)


I remember when I could not breathe in a small enclosed space with any other human unless they were totally decontaminated, chem free .... but this picture below is me and my dad recently in my bathroom hanging a mirror together and the only reason my face looks like it does is cause he was calling the mirror a "f-en bastard" and scaring me with his perfectionism. :)
I am not in perfect health, I still have trouble breathing in certain places, I still feel ill to smell the fragrance detergents, I still know I am not reliable or well enough to go out and get a regular job .... BUT i am much more functional. Functional enough to begin enjoying my life again and I wanted to put this out into the world - for those with MCS or any disease do not give up, ever! The body always is working towards healing itself, the body always wants to get better and so do you... do not give up on the miracle of healing - even if it's slow and takes many years. Just know none of ya'll are alone, I am over here at my little cabin in the woods believing everyday that we all can be healthy - no matter what anyone says!

Xoxoxo

DIY: Non Toxic Wood Oil Part 2 (The Floor!)

BEFORE PHOTO:

This is my bathroom floor before putting on the natural wood oil recipe I made - the wood is kiln dried hickory planks that were locally milled and deeply on sale...If ya need the wood oil recipe, click HERE for Part 1 I posted earlier today---> cause this now is Part 2, and all it is about is my extreme excitement and OCD about how I could not stop putting this amazing wood oil mixture on everything in my house! I couldn't stop cause not only did it smell delicious but it also looked beautiful (I mean, don't oily wet lookin' floors always look so good?!)
Armed with a pot of the natural wood oil and a organic cotton rag I was ready to start rubbing it in. During this process I thought possibly one of those sponge mops would be alot quicker, and at least a good buffer for after the oil is put on....

But I did this by hand, totally Mr Miyagi style "wax on wax off danial son!"

In my bathroom I laid it on extra thick and waxy because I didn't want the water from the tub or sink to penetrate the floor - you can see in the pic below the difference between the finished wood and the unfinished dry wood. The oil brings out all the wood's character, grain and color, artistically speaking just that look is worth all the effort.
Once I got finished the bathroom, I was on a roll! I put on some more of the mixture to be heated up (walnut oil, salt, bees wax, apple cider vinegar) and then It WaS ON !!!
I went right out the bathroom 'door' (i haven't got around to putting up my door yet), and proceeded to oil the kitchen floor too.
Then the OCD my mother instilled in me (AKA- don't ever quit in the middle of a project or activity) kept me going right out into my living room...
And going......... (like, who could stop when it's looking that good and the fear of it drying totally uneven kinda haunts your inner wanna be perfectionist!)
Eventually I made it across the entire house and let myself off the hook, to do my bedroom tomorrow instead. The hardest part of this project was moving stuff on the floor outta the way and the thought of moving the sofa I sleep on made me rather go cook dinna' instead.

The oiling part, though = majorly fun to watch, a little like magic. ;)
XoxoxoX

Eco Art: Glob Paints -Gluten Free, Chemical Free, Vegan!

Ya'll.... I am having a freak out! I have found gluten free, chemical free, vegan, food grade, 100% natural PAINTS!!! This is an idea I have been working on diligently for the last 2 years, compiling lists of pigments, experimenting with colors...... only to find someone has already figured out six of the best colors there are and they call them GLOB! Glob made their paint product so safe, you can use it on your body and flush it down the toilet with no environmental or health disasters.
I am so excited about these paint pigments being available that I have been running back and forth across the house announcing to anyone who will listen (cats and one terrified human) that I am going to be a painting diva-tron artist once again!
For my own plans to make pigments like this, I had planned on buying a dehydrator this spring for drying only paint pigments, then would grind them.... most my ideas are also food grade, but some are poisonous plants (like poke berries) we would not want to eat. The Glob Paints in the pic above are totally 100% food grade safe and affordable at 12$ for all six colors.... check out this diddy from their website:::

"You may have noticed that arts and crafts products do not list ingredients. Consumers rely upon "non toxic" certification, believing that their art materials have undergone sufficient testing to ensure the products they use are safe. Don't let these labels fool you.

Art pigments (colors) are commonly made from petrochemicals, and the actual hazards of these materials are not always known. In the US, chemicals that have never been tested for toxicity can be labeled "non-toxic." The rationale? There is no data to prove otherwise.*

Arts and crafts paints are exempt from consumer paint lead laws, and often contain lead, cadmium, and host of toxic ingredients* like formaldehyde (a carcinogen), one of the most common paint preservatives.

New environmental regulations and consumer demand has contributed to the numerous low to no VOC (volatile organic compounds) and environmentally friendly house paints now available.

Unfortunately, the artist market is far behind.

Paints may not only be hazardous to the consumer, but also the environment. Certified "non-toxic" pigments can still be toxic to fish and other wildlife.

GLOB™ products are sustainable and biodegradable, making them safe to wash down the sink and into our water supply.

Go ahead, Glob it on™!"

You best believe, I am going to glob it on... I am going to glob it on everything!

XoXo

Nude "Canary" Calender for 2010

Bet you just couldnt wait for the Sorta Naked Women of MCS Calender to arrive! ha ha... actually I bet you didn't know it existed! Hitting the awareness scene this 2010 is a naked calender showing pictures exclusively of women who have been chemically injured causing them to have the socially & phyiscally disabling disease called Multiple Chemical Sensitivities. These injuries have a range of causes usually stemming from an exposure to chems in the work environment, in war, in 9/11, and even in the home. Since MCS is a disease only known to recent history (AKA major pollution & use of unhealthy chemicals) there has not been much research to validate and search for a cure, leaving people with MCS in the dust with the many of the other invisible diseases that Big Pharma has no invested interest in.
This Awareness Calender was put together by Susie Collins of The Canary Report in order to bring some attention not just for the cause, not even so much to raise money for charity - but to show the real human side to an illness which has been treated with disdain and rudeness by most of the medical community, up until recently when Gulf War syndrome was recognized by the military.
So... for you dirty birds out there who don't really care whether the ladies have MCS or not but more so about seeing some naked skin - do you have a mask wearing fetish? Like big and skinny ladies? Love some artsy nudes? Love nature with naked ladies in it? If so... you'll love this calendar! (Click that link and see it!)
For those who can't purchase it (cause duh the fresh printed ink makes peeps with MCS cough and swoon), don't worry a video version will be coming out later this month!

PS- I submitted about 5 photos for the calender (all including the F word), and the pic up top was the one chosen... this one below was a reject!!! I kinda like the reject, ya'll!

XoXo