MILK PAINT | ORGANIC PAINT FOR YOUR INTERIORS

Unearthed Milk Paint BesottedPainting is on my mind. It’s pretty much all I can think about which is a wonder that this post even got written because I was too busy trying to will my ugly (and may I add bumpy-shudder) walls a new bright white without me having to actually break out a roller.  Another thing on my mind, is being green. It could be because Seattle is one of the greenest cities in the nation, losing top slot to our neighbor Portland. It’s the law here to be green, no seriously you need to recycle or go to prison or get publicly flogged or some such. In our (green) building we also compost and recycle heat from the roof, not that we need heat right now as it will be over 70 degrees all week, but I digress.

I have been spending a little too much time researching green/eco paint options, but I have learned that they aren’t all created equal. Even beloved Benjamin Moore’s eco line isn’t as eco as it could be–It’s no milk paint. Milk paint?  Made from milk (but you figured that one out, right?) It’s the only paint I have found that is completely natural, safe, and no VOC’s.  It also seems a lot more complicated than just rolling up to Home Depot and having them shake a couple gallons for you. It comes in a powder form that you mix with water to achieve consistency. In the past I have only seen it used on smaller projects such as furniture but lately several entries into the interior painting category have appeared and I am duly intrigued. It is a pricey paint, but we moved into a green building, in a green city (did I mention that?) and one of the caveats of all this green living is a smaller footprint/blueprint for our new living space. Much smaller. So I think the investment wouldn’t be too bad if I went this route. Have any of you tried this for your walls? Do you have another eco paint that you have tried that you liked? I honestly thought we were pretty eco-friendly before we moved here but it seems we were just silly novices; this city takes it to a whole new level and I am buying what they are selling, I think it’s pretty flippin’ fantastic.

MILK PAINT FOR WALLS RESOURCES:

Safepaint by the Old Fashioned Milkpaint Co.

Unearthed Paints

The Real Milk Paint Co.

MILK PAINT FOR FURNITURE RESOURCES:

The Old Fashioned Milk Paint Co.

Miss Mustard Seed Milk paint

P.S. A non-milk paint that is also zero VOC is made by Bioshield.

P.P.S. Any of you ever try renting or buying a sprayer for painting interior walls?  I am thinking with the bumpy walls I may get uneven coverage with a roller and get white walls with horrid “yellow” specs.  Thoughts?

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the proprietress of Besotted Brand and the writer of this delightful blog. She recently re-located to sunny Seattle with her handsome husband and two pup.

MAKE UP FOREVER HD INVISIBLE CONCEALER REVIEW

makeup forever hd concealer besotted review

I have had a serious case of the uglies with all this cross country moving, stress, motion sickness and sleepless nights going on. I decided that I needed some serious help and surgery was not an option so I went to Sephora instead.  I had such success with the Make Up Forever HD Invisible foundation, that I decided to try their highly rated concealer. My usual favorite concealer was not cutting my new set of complexion disasters and I needed help stat.  I have to say this concealer is better than this one (which make-up artist and beauty editors adore and is very hard on the budget). I think Make Up Forever has created maybe one of the world’s most perfect concealers. It doesn’t crease, a little goes a long way; it covers blemishes, dark circles and even my hyper-pigmentation without being noticeable that you are wearing concealer. I have dry skin but my best friend has oily skin and has loved it as much as I have. I know having a great attitude helps with the way one is perceived but having a secret weapon concealer is just as good (maybe better).

P.S. I am out of my mind excited that Smashbox has a new CC cream!  I still have some BB creams to use up, but this new CC cream shall be my next purchase (I have been very happy with their BB creams and have bought three tubes since it launched, it’s a great product). Have you tried it yet?

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the proprietress of Besotted Brand and the writer of this delightful blog. She recently re-located to sunny Seattle with her handsome husband and two pup.

JULIANNA SWANEY INTERVIEW

Julianna Swaney Besotted Blog

I am so excited to come back with this series with such a talent.  Today, I am interviewing the lovely Julianna Swaney of ‘Oh, My Cavalier’, an artist who’s career I have been following for many years. In fact, Julianna is the only artist on Etsy that I have ever bought a print from, not that there aren’t other incredible artists but I can never make up my mind, but when I saw Julianna’s work I bought it not even knowing where I would put it-her work just moves me. I started to really pay extra attention when I noticed that she started to add more and more lettering to her work and then I saw she was commissioned by another favorite artist to do the lettering for her book. It made my heart swell to see that she was garnering more well deserved exposure. Many of you may know Julianna’s work, but if you don’t I hope she becomes one of your favorites too.

//JULIANNA SWANEY INTERVIEW//

Where are you located?

Portland, Oregon

How did you get started in lettering?

I’ve incorporated some handwritten text into my artwork for a long time. It wasn’t until a few years ago though I started getting requests from people who liked the writing they saw used in my drawings and wanted to commission me to do lettering for them. Now a big chunk of the work I do is hand lettering. I’m all self taught, and I definitely still feel like I have a lot to learn, but I love it!

What are some of your favorite supplies (inks, brushes, nibs, paper)?

For most lettering I really prefer the simple Micron pen with a 01 or 005 tip. They dry quickly and never seem to bleed. I sometimes wonder if I should try different pens in case I’m missing out on something better, but when I do that they always disappoint me and I go back to the Micron! If I’m doing calligraphy my favorite nib is the Speedball Hunt Globe No. 513 with a Sumi ink. For paper use a smooth bristol since it keeps things nice and crisp. I don’t need to use anything fancy since I’m usually just scanning the lettering into the computer.

Can you name some of your inspirations?

I’m definitely not the first person to do this but I love to look back at older sources for inspiration, especially to advertisements and ephemera from the 19th century. I personally have a collection of  antique trade cards from the late 1800’s that use wonderful and interesting type, and then of course I’m always searching out images of similar things on the web. One of my favorite websites sites for finding amazing type is the Duke University Library’s historic sheet music collection.

Can you go a little into your process of how you work on a project?

I’m someone who has to see something on paper before I can tell if it’s going to look good or even work, so I usually do tons and tons of sketches, ranging from rough to pretty finished. If I’m working with a client they never see half of the work I do!  I pick out the best ones and we go over them together and narrow in on what they want, sometimes combining sketches, before making a final draft in pencil. Then I go over that in ink and scan it into the computer for final touch ups. If I’m incorporating some watercolor I do that separately on watercolor paper and combine them digitally.

Any recommendations of books or classes for lettering enthusiasts to further their studies?

Well, I think what’s been most helpful for me is looking though collections of typography and just practicing hand drawing different styles using those as guides. A good one is Vintage Type & Graphics by Steven Heller and Louise Fili.

Do you have some favorite projects you would like me to mention?

Yes! The one that really got me started lettering for other people was the book Menagerie by Sharon Montrose, I did all the text for the book. Also I’m pretty proud of two recent branding projects:  What Delilah Did, a cross stitch designer in the UK and Ben & Colleen Wedding Photographers.

Any advice on what not to do?

Many tears have been shed because I impatiently went at some recently inked text with an eraser. It should be obvious, but I constantly have to remind myself: make absolutely sure all your ink is dry before trying to erase any pencil lines.

Name one random talent you have that people may not know?

Okay, this is very random but I have knack for finding four leaf clovers.

P.S. Julianna also has a charming blog with a lot of her behind the scenes like this post on her calligraphy practice!

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the proprietress of Besotted Brand and the writer of this delightful blog. She recently re-located to sunny Seattle with her handsome husband and two pup.

PINTEREST CURATOR | JEREMY PRUITT

Jeremy Pruitt Besotted

It’s so nice to be back!  It was such a treat to be able to use high-speed internet to do my Pinterest Curator post, formerly living in the country my internet speed was as fast as using an abacus, dial-up would have been faster (and much appreciated).  These posts used to take inordinate amounts of time to put together. Today I was able to scour curator Jeremy Pruitt’s boards as easily as a hot knife to butter. It was almost magical, scratch that, it was magical. I realized when I was choosing today’s curator that I have never featured a boy/male before, but I really don’t know a lot of pinners of the male persuasion but I do know that Jeremy’s boards are awe-to-the-some.  I am not even going to choose favorite boards, because I want you to take a peek at them all.  Yes, they run a bit masculine, but they are also filled with tons of great packaging, typography and okay, a bit of a fave a board dedicated to young Clint Eastwood (hubba hubba). I hope you like my choice for today, but no worries if you don’t it seems I can pull one of these curator posts together now in about 5 secs flat, so I should be compiling them about eight feet high and we shouldn’t run out any time soon.

Tomorrow I have a very special lettering artist interview, so if you have been missing those I think you will be very happy to see who will be featured.

P.S. If you want to suggest a curator (yourself included) just leave a comment or if you are shy shoot me an email.  I always go visit them!

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the proprietress of Besotted Brand and the writer of this delightful blog. She recently re-located to sunny Seattle with her handsome husband and two pup.

EARTHWATCH INSTITUTE

Earthwatch Institute BesottedI know this may seem random, but I love potentially introducing you to new things and I have been trying to figure out where this would fit in the scheme of things on this here blog. Since, I just had a grueling 2 weeks of moving, in my dream world I would currently be planning a much needed vacation and having moving fairies unpack everything and put it in the exact place my heart desires. Unfortunately, I am only in the position to dream, which is fine as I am very good at it, you too?  And, yes, I know moving fairies are hard to come by. One, of my life goals is to be to able to participate in an Earthwatch Institute Expedition, I find it extremely silly that I haven’t already done so since I have been receiving their catalog for about 30 years (it’s now paperless!) and that seems like an awful long time to pull the trigger on something so highly desired. If you are the kind of vacationer that prefers lying on the beach, toes in sand with a Pina Colada in your hand then an expedition for a vacation would probably not be the best choice for you.  If you are like me and have insatiable curiosity and when you visit a new place want to learn as much as possible about it then I think you will be in heaven. What exactly is this Earthwatch that I am talking about?  From their fact sheet I found this:

“Earthwatch inspires connections between people and the environment. Our mission is to engage people worldwide in scientific field research and education to promote the understanding and action necessary for a sustainable environment”.

In layman’s terms, you pay to be part of specific scientific expeditions around the globe.  Yes, you pay to work, but it’s for a good cause and it’s a once in a lifetime experience.  We still haven’t taken out honeymoon yet and I have mentioned that I want to do this to my husband, in which he has replied, “No, thank you.”  I find it hard to not be able to find an expedition that is not as thrilling as any other exotic locale you’d visit but you’d have more to do than eat, sleep and got to tourists traps. Did I mention it’s an amazing cause?  Your fee helps support the research of the individual expeditions you choose to participate in.  You could work with Dolphins in Greece, Darwin’s Finches in the Galapagos, go on an archeological dig on the Roman coast of Italy, Conserve Koala’s in Australia do I need to go on? Doesn’t this all sound amazing? Think of the stories you could tell, it would be worth it just for that, you would be like a modern day Hemingway (without the violence or booze), or an urban Jane Goddall. If you have a sense of adventure, a natural curiosity for life and love the idea of doing something important I highly recommend you check Earthwatch out.  If you have gone on an expedition or plan to I would love to hear all about it so I can at least live vicariously! If you are as excited as I am about this and want to dream with me, what expedition do you think you would want to participate in?  The koala expedition looks pretty amazing, but they once offered a dolphin expedition in the Canary islands that has always appealed to me (even though with my motion sickness any sea expedition would be torture).

Author / Miss Tristan B

Miss Tristan B. is the proprietress of Besotted Brand and the writer of this delightful blog. She recently re-located to sunny Seattle with her handsome husband and two pup.