That all changed last May when I attended a close friend’s father’s funeral, something changed that day, something changed me that day. He was a scientist, he was brilliant but very modest and I never knew his life’s story, interests or beliefs until his life journey had been completed. By then it was too late, it was the biggest wakeup call I have ever had, and it was my first real experience of life’s and earth’s fragility. I could see how unconscious we all are in today’s society and that passiveness is our biggest problem. It was the first time I realised science had a very quiet voice.

Since June of 2011 I have been avidly reading environmental articles, networking, drawing, painting, writing,  watching videos, reading blogs….and generally trying to soak up as much information as I can about  the truth behind climate, global and environmental changes and warnings. I have even built this blog, ready to play an active role in helping to improve the situation. Only I keep hitting the same problem….will all my efforts make a big enough difference and what exactly am I trying to do? Is it too late and should I just ignore the problems like everyone else seems to be, after all none of my friends or family seem that interested in me spouting on about environmental changes? Reading the evidence I feel like hell is it too late! As long as I haven’t given up, I have not lost!

The most important truth that I have learnt is that climate change is absolutely not a natural cycle that would have happened anyway, we’ve done so much damage no one, scientists include,  have the answer for how exactly the earth is going to react and the severity of her reaction and how soon it will happen…but they do know the problem is getting worse and the reaction, that being climate crisis is happening faster than they thought it would a few years ago….and really our time is up, that environmental disaster bomb could go off any day and without any further warnings.  What scientists can tell us are their predictions based on their monitoring of the earth’s changes and past cycles the earth has gone through. I have literally spent days wading through very scientific and factual information which if honest was pretty hard going for someone who is not that scientifically or mathematically minded. Needless to say I preserved and I finally feel like I ‘get it’ and that I am in a position to help other people ‘get it’. Or to at least try and inspire others to understand.

I will try my best to explain what I have learnt and why I have drawn the following conclusion.

The Climate Crisis is based on scientific findings and facts. It is presented as scientific facts, findings and warnings, it is based on evidence. Yet most of us still continue to ignore these warnings and carry on regardless with our materialist and wasteful lifestyles, without a single ounce of regret or remorse. I think that globally the general public’s attitude is similar to that of smoker who doesn’t want to quit smoking. They know it is harming them and will eventually catch up with them, but for now they are enjoying basking in the delights of a filthy habit and no one is going to spoil their fun or take their crutch away from them. I know, I was a heavy smoker and I see a similar pattern, I could not be told to change my ways, I was too scared that I would not cope. That fact that I could ignore such health warnings doesn’t in fact indicate that I have a weak will; to the contrary it suggests that I have an iron one to ignore such information. But when I became pregnant with my first child, I was desperate to stop and I eventually found the courage to stop and you know what? It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, sure I miss the odd cigarette now and again, but my life is so much better, easier and free-er without them.  I see similar struggles on my journey to becoming an activist of neutralising my carbon footprint. It is going to require effort, sacrifices but more than anything I need to do it for my children. I want to do it for my children; I want to do it for myself and others too.

No one likes a party pooper, a Mr Negativity, a dictator, a panicker, a moaner, a know it all or a droaner…………..this is how many people perceive environmentalists to be….banging on about how the world is going to end and that we are killing the earth and the end is nigh. I have proof of this, it’s all over the internet, negative comments about Al Gore and his campaigns and volumes of people generally wanting him to shut up and stop trying to make them feel guilty. “Drill baby drill” – keep that oil coming…ignore this fool. It’s a dull message that never changes. I see a glazed look come over my parents, my in-laws and sometimes even my husband’s face if I start talking about my concerns….they don’t get what I see,  and to be honest I think they wish I’d go back to a corporate lifestyle, earn good money and shut the hell up on the subject. But then I see my children, the people I am meant to protect and when the day comes, and it will, when they ask me “Mummy why didn’t you do anything to stop this?” – this is my biggest fear, how can I look them in the eye and tell them, I knew, we all did but we didn’t want to know?  That is why I won’t let this go; I’m onboard and fully intend to ride this out til my last breath.

So this is the problem I see:

I believe the Global Climate Crisis needs passion and creativity, it needs a personality and it needs more than anything a positive outcome, it needs HOPE! It needs to be packaged and sold like a bottle of sweet brown fizzy liquid that has taken over the world, aka Coca Cola. It needs to be a brand that is recognised, trusted and believed in. It needs the arts and creative professionals to convey messages of hope and inspiration that will get everyone involved and everyone understanding just how imperative it is that they change their lifestyle choices and habits. Designers, writers, artists, musicians, actors, film directors…anyone with creative talent needs to step up and use it to influence and become a catalyst for science and the scientists who are failing to reach people. It is down to the ‘creatives’ to understand their environmental responsibilities and carve a new arts and design movement, that actually moves people’s minds and shows them a clear path to hope and global climate recovery.  Putting on a concert for one night to remind people of what is happening is not enough, it needs to be constant! Creatives need to make people feel good and embrace this lifestyle change, to spark a desire to mend earth.

Imagine If you were to move the bin in your kitchen, it will annoy and inconvenience you for a day, by day 2 it will be easier….after a week it will be second nature. It’s the same principal with changing people’s environmental ways; it’s an inconvenience that can easily become second nature and a very satisfying way to live life!

Do I still have your attention?

Then here comes the science bit, a good place to start for anyone who would like to see a brighter future for themselves or their children……………

Contraction & Convergence or C&C is a UK driven climate campaign, started by musician and Director of GCI Global Commons Institute,  Aubrey Meyer.

It has taken me 3 days to read through all the information I have amassed with regards to Contraction and Convergence and below I have written my own interpretation of what I think it means.

The underlying principles and theories behind the founding of the GCI – Global Commons Institute are based on governments globally needing to impose strict legislations on countries in the developed world to reduce carbon emissions. So that we can protect the developing world from the effects we have caused on their environment through our own greed and wastefulness.

C&C (contraction and convergence) founder Aubrey is striving to make people see how we can sway public opinion into taking a reactive approach to global climate crisis. He keeps company with scientists who provide all the evidence that global warming is taking place, yet this evidence is also creatively connected with philosophy and maths. Over time intellectual types such as Pythagoras closely studied nature and could see a deep connection between maths, nature and music – one word that springs to my mind here is rhythm! There is a definitive rhythm running across science, nature, maths and music that connects everything. But essentially everything can be traced back to a number and a series of numbers such as a pattern; visually these patterns and numbers give beautiful outputs. Such as the world you see around you, also the music you listen to is a series of notes and vibrations that when written on paper form some kind of mathematical calculation.

A sunflower for example looks the same as any other sunflower; its visual rhythm is always the same. An outer circle of golden yellow leaves, an inner circle of dark brown bushy matter.  You could find out the exact mathematical calculation for reproducing a picture perfect copy on a computer. So if you took a photo of a sunflower and loaded it onto your computer, what is visually displayed on your monitor has a mathematical and scientific calculation running behind it. It has its own rhythm!

Nature too must have its own rhythm for producing the same plants over and over again, each species having its own unique number, pattern or rhythm. Simplifying this further, everything could essentially have its own number, even us humans. Numerology, the study of numbers and their supposed influence over human affairs, has long been studied and taken seriously and developed by philosophers such as Pythagoras. It’s not just cosmic fortune telling websites that we see today, Pythagoras, donned the Father of Western Numerology combined the mathematical disciplines of Arabic, Druid, Phoenician, Egyptian, and Essene sciences.  Since then it has continued to evolve, but the validated system – Chaldean numerology is the one they use. Even people’s names can have a rhythm and hold true meaning. This is something I am yet to learn about, but I totally see the logic of maths and numbers running behind everything that we see and experience.

The point is that we no longer seem to be running in rhythm with the earth, we are banging our own drum and it’s totally out of tune and deafening us, so that we can hear nature’s delicate one. Our rhythm and patterns don’t flow from nature; we’ve tried to replicate nature without any thought for what we take from nature. We are living in ‘virtual times’, we want it today and we build it tomorrow with not a second thought about any repercussions. We have plastic veneer instead of real wood, we chat online instead of in person, and nearly everything we do requires power of some kind. But that power comes from our earth’s resources and we never stop and think it will run out, we beat our drums about what we deem as more important….”the mortgage, Christmas, money, new car, money, money, money…..spend, spend, spend.”

What happens to earth’s pattern, rhythms and beats whilst we bang our drums? Well they get interrupted of course. Starting at the top, the North Pole, if you can imagine our beat being so loud with all the drilling of oil, burning, collective cars moving globally, crap being churned out, stuff being moved and general tampering that we do to the world, it’s no wonder we see changes.

We’ve all seen images or video footage of the Arctic, stillness and peace is what you would expect. But we are now seeing movement, great chunks of ice melting away or sliding somewhere unexpected.  Animals environments changing, unexpectedly they have to adapt and do so quickly, but not all can do so. They die out and then we hear of species under the threat of extinction. Yet we feel no reason to reproach ourselves because the developed world is currently only experiencing mild climate changes. Here in the UK if we get hotter summers I expect most people would be happy about the fact they can sit in the garden and get a nice healthy tan! Ah but with the extreme of hotter summers comes the other end of the spectrum….more rain too. More rain leading to floods, to which the UK is already prone and insurance companies I believe now do not cover natural disasters in their policies….hmm I wonder why?

Let’s go over to Africa, a few degrees more heat there and a few inches less rainfall means droughts and sweltering heats, more disease, more hunger and more deaths and this is what really tips the balance.  Imagine that balance tipping just a little bit more everywhere. The UK completely falls apart if we have snow…people panic buy bread, milk etc what if we had 2 months of snow?  Or if that balance suddenly aggressively shifted and we had a month of continuous rain…imagine what that would mean for developing countries as we continue to beat our drum, louder and louder.  We drown out nature all together, she can’t heal herself and natural disaster on a global scale occurs. It’s no joke, the next decade we will be seeing this and hearing of it more and more….

So how do we change things? Contraction and convergence – we need to back track. We need to know the facts, understand what differences we can make and which choices and actions will make the biggest differences to lowering our carbon footprint.

I believe this is where art, design and creative media can make a difference, how I can personally make a difference.  I think art and design could and should be the catalyst to deliver the message that science and mathematical evidence is trying yet failing to communicate about the imminent and pending environmental disasters we face. And the ways we can fix them.

As Aubrey of GCI has written in his paper on contraction, convergence and ‘stringularity’, which conveys a wonderful idea that we can all be ‘in-tune’ and ‘in-time’ together. He calls it ‘stringularity’ because when we half the length of a string at constant tension, we double the rate at which it vibrates. So if you will all me another analogy, that’s the same as two people taking one stride but covering twice as much ground as one person taking 2 steps. One drum, one rhythm, nature’s rhythm, let’s beat it together!

I know what I need to do, but will you join me? It starts now…please follow on  facebook  or twitter to get this movement going and help the scientists promote their messages and evidence.

The first thing I did was to think about the composition for each picture. I had 4 images in mind and the card stock to make the frames. I wanted to give each picture a frame finish that complimented it’s colour scheme. So these particular frames were going to get a complete makeover.

To make these frames yourself the first thing you need to do is remove any dirt or oil from your frames. Sugar soap water or even just soapy water and old rag should work just fine. Clean the frames and allow them to dry properly.

Remove the glass and spray with soda water mixed with normal tap water. Alternatively you can use window cleaner. Dry with a lint free cloth or rag. Clean both sides of the glass until it is streak and dirt free.

Get your artwork and card mount frame and put it in the wooden frame to check you are happy with the results.  Remove everything and put it to one side, so that you are left just with the wooden frame, no backing or glass.

Once you are happy with the look of your work in the frame, give some careful thought to the colours you would like to match your frame. I have gone for a metallic finish of complimentary shades to the image, photo, card mount or the specific room they were going to be hung in.

First frame which was actually for my MIL, she had a small coaster with these words printed on them in her kitchen, I noticed she looks at these words in desperate times!  I went with gold to go with the whole regal theme for the card mount frame. The pine frame, I used a simple lime wax finish. First I used a wire brush all over the frame to open up the grain. Next I used extra fine steel wool (you can also use a lint free cloth) and worked the lime wax into the grain, removed the excess and waited about 4 mins for the layer to dry and then added another layer.  I then buffed it with a cloth to get a smooth finish. Lastly I rubbed a tiny bit of gold gilt cream on the edges to pick up flecks of light.

2^nd frame, was for someone who actually owns this particular car.  This one I think I probably like the most and it was so easy to do. I mixed up a topaz blue in acrylics and watered it down a little and covered the whole frame.  I added about two coats in all. Once the paint had dried, which took about 20 minutes I rubbed silver gilt cream all over the frame…making sure not to smother it,  so that shades of the blue come through. I used an old cotton vest to apply the cream and remember a little goes a very long way. NOTE if you have carpets, cover them, you really don’t want gilt cream on them; you can’t get it out properly!

3^rd frame, this one is a bit more masculine. The photo I took in Edinburgh this summer and I love the atmospheric sky verses the gothic city below. The spikey tall building in the photo is actually a college that was the inspiration for Hogwarts School in Harry Potter. This frame was planned for a plain room with burgundy furniture; therefore I choose quite a sombre card mount frame. Same process as for the 2^nd frame, although this time I mixed up a deep rich burgundy colour to show though.  Again I used silver gilt cream.

4^th and final frame was for my Dad, it’s a photo of my kids clowning around and it made him chuckle. My parent’s home is painted in very neutral colours,  but they have loads of colourful items from their travels abroad over the years…so it was great fun to do a really bright frame. I went for a bright sunburst orange and antique gold gilt cream over the top to finish. Again same process as frames 2 and 3. The photo doesn’t do the colours justice, orange and gold work so well together, they are just dazzling.

First of all, Happy New Year to anyone reading this.  I am so proud of myself for staying true to my beliefs this Christmas. Not only am I pretty poor at the moment, considering I am no longer taking on corporate client work, I managed to get through Christmas without taking on any extra debt or buying a single Christmas card or roll of wrapping paper.  I also had one of the nicest and most humbling Christmases ever.

Mid December I’ll admit my husband I noticed was getting a bit nervous about my suggestions for wrapping all the presents in fabric and making 40% of the gifts myself.  He of course loved the fact that I would be spending much less money this year!  It’s just a change of mind, once you see the results I really don’t know what the big deal is with making the swap to a more eco friendly or sustainable alternative. All it requires is a bit more effort and imagination,  the bonus is you don’t have to spend hours online looking for the perfect gift or sit in traffic jams or spend a small fortune on car parking whilst you shop.

Here is how I did mine this year. First of all I happened to have a lot of fabric left over from previous craft projects. Tartan, red, green, and similar colours that work just fine for Christmas.  I purchased a ball of red wool in town for about £1.50 and I still have half a ball left over for next year too. After a few practices, I managed to conquer wrapping up pretty much any shaped item in a secure way, just using the wool with a few knots and bows.  So that eliminated the need for wrapping paper or cellotape.

All the children’s toys were 2^nd hand this year, courtesy of Ebay. They received 70% of what they asked for and nothing we bought needed batteries.  There response was “awesome!”  No packaging and better still no debt to get them what they wanted.  Christmas outfits were sourced at a local charity shops, as was mine actually!

I did tell most of our not so close relatives not to buy us gifts this year as we were only buying for immediate family and children.  This might seem a bit bah humbug, but with so many people remarrying now-a-days the list of ‘to buy for’ just gets ridiculous, if you buy for one you may as well buy for all. Why bother getting yourself in extra debt if you really can’t afford it? If you can and it makes you happy, then great, go for it!

I made 4 gifts myself this year, I recycled 4 old picture frames that I picked up from a charity shop. The frames were solid and not  in bad shape. I just made images or used photography I knew the person receiving would enjoy. So these are really not designed to my own personal tastes, but then again part of being a good designer is completing the brief that you have….mine was to give them a gift I thought they would like.

I cleaned up the frames, painted them and added decorative finishes, cut the mount frame myself. The final cost of doing these frames was £8.00 – as I happened to just use what I already had in my art supply stock at home.  So that was £2.00 a present, my family seemed really touched that I had made something especially for them…You can read my tutorial on making your own art for the home here.

I realise that life sometimes throws things at you that you just weren’t expecting, but this year for me has been well, most unexpected. After a tough couple of years, trying to figure out just who the hell I am now-a-days and what I am doing aside from being a wife and mother, I’ll be honest I have really struggled to find a conclusive answer. That was until I made contact with an old best friend, through facebook.

Her life had taken a completely different road to mine and yet here we both were doing a little bit of soul searching our paths seem to be crossing at the right time. It was about 7 months ago and I find it so weird how fate just sends the right people to step forward and enter your life, like they knew it was their time to enter on the stage.  My friend was having the worst time any of us can imagine, her father was very ill and had been for quite some time. Very sadly he passed away in May 2011, his funeral was going to be the first time I had seen her or her family in 15 years or so. The only thing I was nervous about was saying the wrong thing on the day and unintentionally upsetting someone…but I had to and wanted to be there, more than anything.

Could not find a parking spot for love nor money and bombed it down the road in my rather unfit state to get there on time.  Hot, flustered and in a somewhat surreal state I took my place near the back of the church.  The service started and I began to read the order of service, opening the front cover I read the following:

You and I live on a frontier. We call it ‘the present’, and it seems familiar and relatively stable; but in reality it is an ever moving boundary in time, separating the end of a rapidly receding past from the beginnings of an unknown future. It is a fleeting thing which is gone almost as soon as it arrives. Yet that instant of time, which divides all that has happened from all that is to come, is where we experience every moment of our mortal existence. We are forever bidding goodbye to our former selves and beginning the rest of our lives. Our journey in futurity is precipitate, inescapable and irreversible; we are captives in the stream of time.

(My friend’s Dad, 1992)

When I read this, I was so shocked that (friend’s Dad) had written this.  The last time I saw him I was just 17 or 18 so I excuse myself partially for being somewhat ignorant as to his interests, but I had no idea how awe inspiring this man was, his inspirations, aspirations or anything that meant much to him apart from his beautiful family. For years he opened the front door to me, always made me feel welcome and was always a jovial character.

The service started and the first hymn was ‘How Great Thou Art’, this is one of the few hymns I actually know, but on this day, I think it was the first day I have ever truly understood and absorbed the meaning of this hymn. I have to state that I am not religious in the slightest, but the experience of being there hearing this song belted out in a church was possibly one of the most uplifting and awe inspiring moments of my life….you know that whoever wrote this hymn was just in love with the world so much that they could hardly contain themselves. Just read the words………

Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works thy hand hath made,
I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,
thy power throughout the universe displayed:

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee,
How great thou art, How great thou art!
Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee
How great thou art, how great thou art!

When through the woods and forests glades I wander,
and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees;
when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze;

But when I think that God, his Son not sparing,
sent him to die – I scarce can take it in
that on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and to take away my sin;

When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
and take me home – what joy shall fill my heart!
then shall I bow in humble adoration,
and there proclaim: My God, how great thou art!

If you were to play this hymn to a David Attenborough Planet Earth episode, you’d be kind of getting the essence of how I felt.

What a full soul this person must have had, I think there have been moments in all our lives where we have been overwhelmed with joy, inspiration, euphoria. I don’t think any of these moments ever came from ‘retail therapy’ or through watching a film…but through the beauty of nature…life and love. The most common is the birth of your first child, or any of your children, laughing until your stomach hurts, playing in snow for the first time…..that kind of thing.  At that very moment this song was being sung, when I knew how sad my friend was at losing her amazing and beloved father, I was totally overcome myself. Getting bleary eyed as I write this now even.

Next came the history of Jxxx’s life, he was a scientist and he worked for British Gas, specialising in ovens. He was a purist and believed that you could build a product that would last a lifetime, he was right the cooker in his house is still standing and working today! But he became disheartened by his work and career when they lost the ideals of the 50’s and 60’s and started to introduce a product life span in the 1970’s, once they realised there would be no repeat business for products…why would they want to do themselves out of money, let’s screw up the world instead? As I was hearing this fascinating life story, all that kept running through my mind was, I never knew him and I wish he was here to speak with me now…I wanted to talk to him about all his views, I wanted him to educated me now that I was listening. But it was obviously too late, this made me feel even sadder. I felt exactly the same way when I worked at Sony, it was my dream job and it totally sucked, I was doing no good in my role and I had a huge design budget that meant nothing to the world….I have never felt more worthless in my whole life.

Not only was he a very clever man, he was ahead of his time in light years, whilst my parents were busy gutting their home every few years with new carpets, gadgets and general consumables and useless crap from the 80’s. John was busy mending and making do, fixing his children’s toys when they broke and preserving his house rather than just improving it. If one of my toys broke, it was either tough luck or wait til next Christmas. This was his lifestyle choice, because he knew his way was better and more intelligent. Yet he never inflicted these views on anyone, to my knowledge anyway, unless they enquired. He was a humble and charming man who never, ever sang his own praises, what a pity he didn’t. So I thought I would instead.

I see so clearly now why he made those life choices and I feel privileged to have sat and listened to his amazing life story, but the feelings that overcame me that sunny afternoon have haunted me for the past 7 months too. I came home that day feeling like I never went to school, I felt like a total ignorant twonk. I started to cringe if I bought the children cheap plastic toys, I started to evaluate my home and how much stuff I have taken to the tip over the years, without even thinking about recycling it myself….I think I just woke up to my environmental responsibilities.

Jxxx unknowingly planted the seed to start this site and I hope I do his memory honour by powering on to spread the word about environmental responsibility, education and choices. I feel I need to speak up and wise up, I think we all do, we are at a pivotal moment and we all know the earth is living on borrowed time, unless we change our ways. Boring as it is to many, but if I can be turned round to admitting this, I don’t see why anyone else can’t.  I’m selfish, ignorant and I use way too many resources  – there I said it. But I’m trying to change.

To my friend, thank you for being part of my life again, I am so very privileged to have you as a friend, there are many, many happy times ahead, I promise.  Your dad was a legend xxxx

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[poll id='1']All of the products in their range look solid and Myakka say are “built for life”, not only are they made from beautiful hardwoods such as Sheesham, Acacia, Mango and Monkey Pod, the wood is sourced from government managed plantations in India and Thailand. These woods are fast growing and only taken from sustainable plantations.

The furniture itself is quite chunky and decorative and the styles range from simple, classical shapes to contemporary and rustic. Dare I say, as much as I love the beautiful natural wood finishes, some of the less decorative pieces would make a perfect base for painting, varnishing or staining and giving you a sturdy piece of furniture to which you could give your own design.

The more decorative Indian pieces have elephants hand carved onto them, you can see a video below of them being carved by traditional carving methods. It’s interesting and great to see them being made and that the furniture they are selling is enabling  and sustaining traditional craft practices in India.

They also ship all the furniture to the UK via sea and not air and use biodegradable packaging as much as they can.

Still got some Christmas shopping to do? They have a large range of fair trade, ethical and sustainable gifts for children and family. Including wooden puzzles, strings of rose lights made from real leaves, photo frames, silk scarves and bags.

Grab your free christmas gift and delivery on their fair trade furniture and ethical gifts

Enjoy!

This recipe should really/ideally be made about 2 months before you want to eat them, to give the cherries time to absorb all that lovely brandy, but I’ve not long discovered them…give them a week and I’m sure they’ll still be divine.

Cherries are obviously not a seasonal fruit of winter so your best bet is to buy tinned, jarred or frozen cherries at this time of year. Frozen is probably the better option.

You will need:

1½ pounds cherries, ideally dark, sweet cherries (pitted)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
½ oz fresh lemon juice
1 small cinnamon stick
¼ cup + ½ oz brandy

In a medium saucepan combine the water, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon stick. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat to a medium-low flame. Add the cherries and simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove cinnamon stick and stir in the brandy. Let the cherries cool completely then place in a kiln jar. Pop in the fridge for 2/3 weeks and serve with a blob of mascarpone, or eat on their own – delicious! It’s got fruit, it’s got booze and you can make it yourself in ten minutes…enjoy!

And if you can’t be bothered with all that I thoroughly recommend buying a jar of  Griottine’s finest Morello cherries but steeped in Kirsch or Cointreau, they are absolutely to die for. The only place I know to buy them in the UK is online http://www.griottines.co.uk/buy-griottines.php

If you are game for trying this, and why not, you can find a large selection of kilner and preserving jars here.

One of these little wizard gadgets can really turn any household into making a concerted effort  to cut down on high energy consuming items such as the washing machine and tumble drier. You can’t argue with the results and it can even help turn the most defiant energy abusers into energy saving eco warriors.

You can even get energy meters that plug in to your computer and give you on screen statistics of just how much energy you are consuming and how much it is costing you. When you make small changes it shows you how much you are saving! A very useful product indeed, you can find a collection of the latest energy saving devices and meters here, plus reviews.

When we look over the decades at the different design genres, the designers of those genres had clearly defined goals of those eras. For example Art Deco represented elegance, glamour, functionality and modernity.

Art deco signified the movement away from the flowing curves and organic shapes of the earlier style Art Noveau. It was heavily influenced by the many different styles happening in the early 20^th century including cubism, modernism, neoclassical, futurism and also there was a reference to ancient Egyptian and Aztec forms.

The 1950s saw the Festival of Britain which was organised by the government to give Britain a feeling of recovery after the war to promote good quality design in the rebuilding of its towns and cities. Events for the festival took place nationwide and we saw the introduction of plastic. Concrete and metal were also utilised in new revolutionary ways. It was a time of post-war enthusiasm for design and technology.  Modernism and surrealism also had a big influence on this genre, for example the famous Salavdor Dali ‘lips’ sofa, abstract prints, bright colours mixed with earth tones.

So what will be the trends for the 2010’s decade I wonder?  Having gone mad for technology in the noughties I think of Apple as being one of the biggest and iconic design and brand influences, even their TV adverts are iconic. I remember needing to desperately know how to give a liquid effect to navigation buttons on websites, the tutorial  to do this was titled “how to make Apple web buttons”.

With regards to our current demands, we need t o find/build new homes for our growing population, reduce our emissions and carbon footprint, reduce, reuse and recycle and also build from sustainable resources…all on minimum budgets as we are facing a cash strapped decade with the global economy downturn…hmm yet we still have so many designers, architects and manufacturers in denial. Or maybe it’s just that they are uninspired and lazy I don’t really know, or maybe they don’t care. I however do and will be doing my very best to promote these demands as a trend and goal for the current genre and will be looking for good examples of design to fill my blog pages with.  If you come across any great finds yourself please do share them!

I think we need to see a real shift in consumer ideals, we just love buying crap and we don’t want to wait for something. The UK is a society obsessed with having things and then disposing of those things immediately when we decide we no longer want them or they irate us. How many times do people have a clear out and decide then and there that it is all going to the dump instead of finding new homes or uses for their junk?   I think designers need to think full life cycle and aim to give all their designs a realistic shelf life and after life. This is the way I see design trending and being able to give consumers a true guilt free conscience when they purchase and possibly also an investment opportunity. If what they are buying can either be turned into something else or will gain value over time, mainly because it is built to last not fall apart after 2 house moves. Designers need to design for life and not the dump and consumers should expect this!  Manufacturers and the businesses that sit behind mass production need to be sent a message that consumers need and demand more and that the days or making a fast buck at the expense of the planet are over.

I shall be reviewing the Design Like You Give A Damn book in a couple of weeks, I have heard many good things about this book, so am very much looking forward to diving in and extracting some pearls of wisdom.  If you have read this book why not share your thoughts by leaving a comment below or on my facebook page?

If you have any design articles, opinions or ideas you would like to share or discuss with regards to design innovation of recycled, recyclable or sustainable materials please leave a comment below or get in touch.

Having started to conduct some research into this, I have to admit that I am totally baffled by what might be a load of poppycock and what might be true.  It would be so much easier if we could just see all the ingredients on the paint manufacturer’s website or on the back of a tube of paint…but no there is nothing. Only what they want us to know. Looking on the back of a Windsor and Newton 6 month old tube of acrylic paint and there is sweet naff all on the back as to what is in it. I’ve been used to just picking up whatever colour I like and working with it, be it oils, acrylics, water colours or emulsion.  Now that I am on my journey of discovery to crush my carbon footprint it sometimes feels like I will never get creative again once I start questioning what things are made of, it’s never ending. The wool constantly seems to be pulled over consumers eyes and I don’t necessarily think it’s ignorance on the consumer’s behalf either. Can we really trust no one to tell us the truth about their products or what the impact of products that we use is going to have on the planet?

Oil paints generally have a reputation for taking ages to dry but acrylics dry quickly, it’s general knowledge that acrylics are made from plastic and we think of anything that’s not natural in origin to not be environmentally friendly. But acrylics have come on so much over the past decade that even purist oil painters are swapping to using them because the spectrum of colours available is so tempting. Also the fact that they dry so quickly and mix so well with water is another reason why one might be seduced to working with then over oil paints. Gold acrylic paint is so realistic now-a-days that many experts actually struggle to tell the difference between gold leaf gilding and acrylic gold paint finishes.  Knowing all of this you would have thought that if someone was purposely choosing to use acrylic paints over oil these would be the main reasons, not because it was a ‘greener’ option.

I googled “acrylic paint eco friendly” and the following is one of the results that came back.

“Are Acrylic Paints a Friend of the Earth?

Paint isn’t the most environmentally friendly thing on the planet. If you are concerned with keeping care of our earth and still want to paint with acrylics. You should know that acrylic paint is more environmentally friendly than oil based paint and has lower level of hydrocarbon emissions with it. If you truly want to dispose of your acrylic paint appropriately, you should let it dry and any rags used with it dry completely before disposing of them.”

You can see the source of this here

Having then conducted searches into the ingredients of oil paints, I didn’t realise what a mine field I was walking into. Totally conflicting advice all round. Seems many oil paints are made with linseed oil as one of the main ingredients, but it’s what is also added to it that makes it harmful to the planet.

Think about it, people have been painting since the beginning of man in one form or another, starting with cave paintings. There should be a wide range of totally ‘organic’ paints available on the market with the technology that we have on offer today. But no, seems I’m going to have quite a bit of research on my hands before I can claim to know which paints are the most environmentally friendly to use and which are the most harmful.

I’ve found a couple of starting point videos for anyone who may be interested in this topic. The one that really concerns me is the emulsion paint one. Namely that even today most household emulsion paints still carry high levels of toxins that will be inhaled by the whole family for at least 2 years prior to painting. I’m not sure if this is accurate for the EU, as this is an American video….but again I shall investigate at a later date.

Wkipedia has some good info about oil paints. It says

“Oil paint is a type of slow-drying paint that consists of particles of pigment suspended in a drying oil, commonly linseed oil.”

Below is an extract from Wikipedia on the subject

Sources

The earliest and still most commonly used vehicle is linseed oil, pressed from the seed of the flax plant. Modern processes use heat or steam in order to produce refined varieties of oil, which contain fewer impurities, but cold-pressed oils are still the favourite of many artists.^[5] Other vegetable oils such as Hemp, poppy seed, walnut, sunflower, safflower, and soybean oils may be used as alternatives to linseed oil for a variety of reasons. For example, safflower and poppy oils are paler than linseed oil and allow for more vibrant whites straight from the tube.

Extraction methods and processing

Once the oil is extracted additives are sometimes used to modify its chemical properties. In this way the paint can be made to dry more quickly if that is desired, or to have varying levels of gloss. Modern oils paints can, therefore, have complex chemical structures; for example, affecting resistance to UV or giving a suede like appearance.

Pigment

The color of oil paint derives from the small particles mixed with the carrier. Common pigment types include mineral salts such as white oxides: lead, now most often replaced by less toxic zinc and titanium, and the red to yellow cadmium pigments. Another class consists of earth types, e.g. sienna or umber. Synthetic pigments are also now available. Natural pigments have the advantage of being well understood through centuries of use but synthetics have greatly increased the spectrum available, and many are tested well for their lightfastness.

Toxicity

Many of the historical pigments were dangerous, and many pigments still in popular use today are highly toxic. Many toxic pigments, such as Paris green (copper(II) acetoarsenite) and orpiment (arsenic sulfide), to name only two, have fallen from use. Some pigments still in use are toxic to some degree, however. Many of the reds and yellows are produced using cadmium, and vermilion red uses natural or synthetic mercuric sulfide or cinnabar. Flake white and Cremnitz white are made with basic lead carbonate. The cobalt colors, including cobalt blue and cerulean blue, are made with cobalt compounds. Some varieties of cobalt violet are made with cobalt arsenate.

So there you have it for now, it would seem as though the statement about acrylic paints being slightly more environmentally friendly overall than oil paints is true to a certain degree.  I will also take the advice about disposing of the left over’s or waste paint on to rags, let them dry, then dispose of them. Rather than tip them down the sink, especially as that water is the very water that I/we will be drinking again in the future.

I would welcome any comments, suggestions or advice about this topic as I am really not certain about how qualified the sources are that I have found.

And if you are interested here is some further related reading on the subject.

Colour: The Story of Dyes and Pigments (New Horizons S.)

Colour Mixing Bible

eCo House Book

So what is foil imaging?

‘Foil imaging’ is a printmaking process which allows the manipulation and artistic application of commercial roll leaf foil products. Foils come in rolls, similar to aluminium foil and are applied to paper with heat, pressure and various techniques using the ‘Iowa Foil Printer’. There are quite a few different foil colours available on the market, but when compared with paints the pallet is quite limited as any colour you could wish for is readily available. Although it is possible to create different colours with foil imaging through the use of innovative techniques such as layering and removal of foil. The unique reflective qualities of this art form can have a painterly quality when viewed as a reproduction, but when the natural light reflects off the surface of the surfaces of the foil, the colours come alive and add an unfathomable depth and beauty to the images. Foil imaging is not traditional gold or silver leaf; it is a printmaking process that is being pioneered by artists, mentored by the Iowa Print Group at the University of Iowa.

How did you discover it?

I was in my final year of college at the University of Iowa in 1991 and I always took summer art workshops. I had taken almost everything that I had been interested in, but this Foil Imaging class had caught my eye. It required a printmaking background, of which I had none, so I went to have a talk with Professor Virginia Myers about my eligibility for the class.

During our discussion she indicated that this was the first ever class about this technique that she was pioneering as an art form and I was welcome to join them as they embarked on the discoveries of all things foil. I was very excited and fell in love with the media. I was pursuing my BFA in metal smithing and already had a love of metals, colors and reflective surfaces so this was right up my alley. After I completed the summer course I wanted to take another course in the fall. At that time Prof Myers explained to me that there were no additional courses. I told her this was my last semester of college and I really wanted to do more with foil, I was already hooked! She agreed to take me on as an independent study student.

That fall semester I spent all of my extra hours playing with foil and discovering techniques that are now included in the first book about foil imaging. I then graduated, travelled abroad and shared my foil work with art students at Curtin University in Perth Australia. It was while I was there talking about foil that I realized how much I loved it. When I returned home I took the plunge and purchased the Iowa Foil Printer. I have been deeply in love with it ever since!

Is it difficult to do or very time consuming?

Yes and no. I love it so much I forget how much time it takes me to prep the work before the colour goes down and then mount the work once it’s finished. I have gotten so used to working on multiple pieces at a time because I need to take time to step back and take in what I am creating that the time to create a piece from start to finish is really undeterminable. Some are definitely faster than others and some never get finished.

What materials do you need and are they expensive?

The materials I use commercial roll leaf foil that is purchased through only a few suppliers in the US. There are a very limited number of colours and they come in metallic, matte and gloss pigment, blind emboss, pearlescent and holographic colours. The colons come in rolls and there are minimum quantities to purchase making the initial investment for a substantial palette high. But the rolls last for a long time, making the long term investment manageable. There is more information about foils on my website under the process page.

The equipment is called the Iowa Foil Printer. It is an investment of $10,000 to begin to work in the media. You can click on the link to the Iowa Foil Printer web site from my Links Page.

Why do you enjoy working with this media?

I love working with this media because it is “undiscovered” as a media used by the artist hand. Everything that you see with any type foil is all done with commercial presses. What I do is take a commercial product and apply it with an artist’s hand. This technique is relatively unheard of and there are many new discoveries in its application yet to be discovered. I myself have contributed my discoveries to the first ever book about foil imaging. . Everything that you see with any type foil is all done with commercial presses.

What inspires you and your work?

I am inspired by the seductive colour palette of the foil and the unusual application techniques that command exploration are the driving force behind my self expressions. I love to work in abstraction and colour. I often listen to worship music and particularly love Jesus Culture, Sarah Groves, Brooke Frasier and David Crowder. I begin my art time with preparing my space with music and tidying from my last artcapade. I often do some short exercise while I wait for my press to heat up. Then I review works in process and decide to start new or rework other pieces that are not yet complete. I set out the colours I am looking to combine and pray for a word that I can sink my teeth into. Lately I have enjoyed pushing the word into a series of works and giving them all the same word title in sequence. My most recent 2 series are “Nesting” and “Surfacing”. These are deeply satisfying explorations. I often pray for people as I work and sing songs. My best work seems to be in the evening, when I can actually find the energy after my busy days. When I was pregnant I did many pieces with women or abstract wombs. When I hit different seasons it impacts my colon palette as well as my frame of mind. I have the most incredible sunsets out my back door every evening that really ground me to the significance of life…..aahhhhhh

From your portfolio which pieces are your favourites and why?

I think my newest works are always my favourites, so that means it changes. These creations tell the story of where I am emotionally, spiritually and physically so they are a snapshot in time that tells the story of my life. I feel a great deal of freedom in my series of “Slices of Life”. They come in all sizes and are a modern day a la carte tapestry in modern art. They are a joy to create and I never seem to have trouble producing them. It is also wonderful to see how people mix and match them as well as how they turn them since I do not sign them indicating an up or down. I have also taken them and created a “Modern Family Portrait”.

All in all there is something about creating a whole new series, with new subject matter and colours that brings great satisfaction and joy. I am always excited about the works that I post to my site. But, if they are not complete or somewhat lacking, they stay in queue for revisions and adaptations and will not be seen until I am content. I have labelled the new works “Hot Off the Press” on my web site because they literally are hot when they are completed.

What advice would you offer for someone else considering working with foil imaging?

Dive in! It is an incredibly seductive palette and there is truly nothing like it. I would recommend taking the summer workshops at the University of Iowa under the instruction of its inventor Virginia Myers. Get your feet wet and see if it is for you. There are some challenges to learning to control this medium as with any other, but well worth the exploration. If you are gung ho you can make the investment in the equipment, the Iowa Foil Printer, and revel in self discovery of an uncharted media!

Where to buy?

I sell my work through local galleries and from my website I am also hot to trot for new gallery representation in any other cities! Especially if they are in a 6 hour driving radius from my home in Iowa:)

For more details about foil imaging and to see or purchase Kimberlee’s work  please visit her  website www.kimberleerocca.com

I think Kimberlee’s work is beautiful when you see it in on the walls,  the digital images don’t seem to do it the justice it deserves. Her collection is incredibly satisfying, exciting and I am absolutely sure that it looks stunning when seen in natural daylight. The initial capital outlay for producing this kind of art work seems very high and I salute Kimberlee for having such faith and passion in a medium that is not yet well know or explored.

On a carbon footprint note, foil imaging seems to have derived into an art form from hot foil printing which actually has an environmentally friendly, dry printing process. It doesn’t use solvents or inks and can produce stunning effects simply using a heated die and foil. Widely used in the packaging and greeting industries, you probably see hot foil printed items everyday without realising. Quality hot foil printing is produced by a simple equation -Heat + Pressure + time

By the sounds of it the same principles apply when Kimberlee is producing her artwork, it’s nice to know she is not having to use solvents or breath in fumes to create her masterpieces. Although I am not clear as to the type of foil that is used, be it tin, aluminum or something else…so I shall reserve judgment about how eCo friendly the materials used are for now.  Certainly something I would like to have a try at some day.