Friday, September 24, 2010

Stripping and waxing

Naked: The handsome Edo Rocking Chair by Thos. Moser
Ahah!
Now someone would like to know how to stain and finish some furniture, rather than paint.
Well I say....
If you are going to strip paint off, then BioPaints also do a stain and clear finish.
But you could also think about what to do after you have stripped the paint back. The timber might already be a lovely color in which case you can skip the stain. If you want to stain, there are more natural alternatives...like black coffee!!
Then.. do you really need to varnish? You might consider leaving the timber raw.. it has a lovely feel and a bed doesn't get the same workout as, say, a floor or a chair... the parts usually in contact are covered by a mattress!
or what we did on a beautiful 150 year old kauri pine floor, was to sand it, apply a polish made of equal parts of boiled linseed oil (you buy it boiled), turps and vinegar, and then wax it. The result was beautiful and hardwearing.

So my suggestion..
1.Sand back the furniture (do it outside and wear a dusk mask!!)
2. Rub down the wood with turps to clean it up.
3. mix in an old jar equal parts turps, boiled linseed oil and white vinegar, (no need to heat, just put on the lid and shake vigourously) You can also add essential oil for extra yummy smells eg eucalyptus, lemon or lavender.
4. Rub this runny stuff into the furniature. It may make the timber darker. Let it soak in. Do a couple of coats for best effect.
5.The next day you can finish it off with a natural beeswax furniature polish... you can still get it in some shops or on-line or make your own: in an old metal pot break up some natural beeswax, if you want a harder polish add a small portion of Carnauba Wax, say 1 part to 15, pour pure (not mineral) turpentine over the top to cover , then put the whole pot in another pot of water on the stove(ie. make a double boiler). Mix it all together as it melts. Should be the consistency of unrefrigerated butter. Vary the turps to make the consistency.
6. Rub the beeswax polish on and then get a workout by buffing it by hand or find your gandma's old floor polisher to do the big bits!

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Non-Toxic Paint


Making your own paint with help from Earth Pigments.


Recently a mother-to-be asked me about what kind of paint she could use in her nursery to paint a baby's cot. I think that everyone, of all ages, should only have to be exposed to non-toxic paint.

Non- toxic paints are not only safe for when a child likes to suck, lick, chew(?) furniture, but also paints generally have substances in them known ans Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC's), which release harmful fumes into the air. This is also known as "off gassing". You know that new car smell? Thats a toxic smell of VOC's and breathing them in is bad for you, causing respiratory problems and long term kidney problems. In Europe, most paints containing VOC's have been banned, as they are more advanced in health studies which show breathing in paint fumes (lasting for years after the paint has dried) have long lasting health issues. So of course you don't want a tiny baby exposed to the stuff.

So what to do? Lucky there are lots of good paints now available.
I personally like BioPaint, its one of the better priced non toxic paints (yes these non-toxic points can be more expensive but if you are just painting a cot its OK!) You can get non toxic paint in some eco type shops or on-line at somewhere like:
Colours by Nature
or
The Enviroshop
or
The EcoShop

Most big paint manufacturers also make low VOC paints, just look on the tin in the hardware store... but its what the paint is actually made from which adds to your thinking. The bio and natural paints are usually sourced from natural and not synthetic or chemical ingredients.

If its all to tricky... how about making your own paint! You can make traditional "Milk Paint"-
its just made of milk powder, lime, vinegar and some kind of coloring if you don't want white!
I made it once and it is great... but not smooth like a gloss paint... more textured like a light render. But at least you know what it is made of and its cheap!!!
there is a nice recipe at:
Earth Pigments

Good luck with your painting adventure!!
Jo

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Where (near you) to recycle everything - from cans to computers


So exciting! A really super dooper site for Australia!
http://www.recyclingnearyou.com.au/
Just put in your postcode and the website will tell you everything you need to know about all your local recycling, re-use, hazardous waste collection services! Hooray! They even tell you where to take stuff, where to shop for second hand goods locally, what EXACTLY your council collects... eg: what have you been doing with all of those pesky envolopes with windows? The site tells you if your council recycles them or not.
Hot tip! Don't crush your aluminum cans!