Art | Resources
Wholesome Linen
line of sleep essentials for infants and toddlers made from organic linen fabrics and raw flax fibers. Selection includes a toddler car seat liner. “Our products are soft, hypo-allergenic, machine washable and long lasting. We make them with100% organic raw flax fibers, without adding any dyes or bleaches. We source our flax from certified organic farms in Europe where it has been grown the same way for generations. We turn it into high quality essential sleep products that we deliver to you from Denver, Colorado.”
Modify Furniture
Simple, modern, and colorful, this furniture is designed to change as your needs change. You pick your frame style and color then front and back panel colors, and accessories, At any time you can change your colored panels for new colors! Made from rapidly renewable bamboo, recycled content aluminum, organic powder coating and low VOC finishes.
Are Flannel Sheets Free of Hazardous Chemicals?
Question from Steve
Hi Debra,
I came across some of you posts and writings as I was searching for bedsheets. I would like to know if all flannel sheets are free from hazardous chemicals. Is it safe to buy flannel sheets that are not organic? Must they state that they are free from chemicals on packaging or are all flannel sheets safe because/if they are not treated to be wrinkle free, easy care, etc? I greatly appreciate your advice.
Thanks,
Steve.
Debra’s Answer
All flannel sheets are “safe” in the sense that they
- have no harmful finishes (they are naturally wrinkle-free because of the weave”)
- pesticides are removed as a by-product of processing in raw cotton into fabric
- dyes are “color-fast,” which means they stay in the fabric
Organic flannel sheets would be even better, though the benefit is more environmental.
I myself sleep on non-organic flannel sheets and have for years.
The only problem I’ve ever had is sometimes they use plastic printing for certain designs. Otherwise, a quick tumble in the washer and dryer and I’m always happy with them.
Latex Wood Slat Bedframe Strips—10 Years Later
Today Larry is working on removing the latex strips that we glued to the slats on our wood bed frame about ten years ago.
It sounded like a good idea at the time: latex strips just on the slats, which would give extra cushioning and still allow the natural wool mattress to breathe. I don’t like the odor of latex, so I didn’t want a whole mattress.
I did have to endure the outgassing of the latex for some weeks, but then it was tolerable and comfortable.
But about a year or two ago I started noticing a lot of dust and bits of latex under the bed. The latex was disintegrating!
This has gotten to be such a problem that Larry has taken the entire bed apart this morning and is pulling the latex strips off the slats. It is creating so much dust he had to bring in the shop vac because our little household Miele couldn’t handle the amount of dust that is being created.
I don’t know if this is a problem for pillows and mattresses, but it is a problem for our two-inch square strips. They just dried out. Maybe they were dehydrated by six months of air conditioning. I don’t know. I just know that it became such a mess we had to remove them.
Peg and Awl
“Useful objects for the home” made from reclaimed wood, leather, and natural fiber fabrics. “To make our wares, we gather materials from flea markets and old shoppes, abandoned houses and torn-down buildings, construction sites, yard sales, and dirty basements. Most of what we use—leather from baseball gloves and drawing-room chairs, and WWII gun slings, pages from outdated medical texts and antique seed catalogs, misplaced photographs of people long dead, fabric from bedding, aprons, window covering—is more than a century old. Every item bears marks of a not-fully-known and not-quite-finished past” While they do not add any toxic materials when making their wares, note that some of their materials may have origins unknown, so proceed with caution and ask questions.
Fair Isle
Mostly farm-to-table pantry items (plus botanical skin care and wellness products, all jumbled on one page). “All made by hand 30 miles out sea on the island of Nantucket. Together with my love and Iley’s papa, Jacob, we grow and wild-harvest many of the ingredients used in our culinary provisions, teas and herbs as well as our Vital healing botanical apothecary. If we can’t grow or find something locally we then source from organic sustainable suppliers. Products are made in small batches, often to order, and are packaged in recycled glass jars and bottles with environmentally friendly labels printed in the US.” I’m thinking the selection will change based on available ingredients, so just take a look and see what’s seasonal.
Watch the Movie STINK! Free for the Month of OCTOBER
STINK! opens with a foul smell and a pair of kids pajamas. And a single father trying to find out what that smell could possibly be. But instead of getting a straight answer, director Jon Whelan stumbles on an even bigger issue in America, which is that some products on our store shelves are not safe — by design.
Stink! tells us about our exposures to toxic chemicals from consumer products and lack of regulations through the eyes of a father who has lost his wife to cancer. He buys pajamas for Christmas presents for his two tween daughters and is appalled by the overwhelming odor.
Stink! takes us through his journey to find out what’s in the pajamas that causes the odor, shows the world of undisclosed “fragrance” chemicals, and even includes a a teenage boy who cannot attend high school because he goes into anaphylactic shock when he breathes a certain body spray used by many of his classmates.
There’s a lot of good information about toxics in this film that shows the problem. It’s well worth watching and a good movie to show others, so they can get an idea of the problem.
[Just as an aside I want to say that this film is full of interviews with people who are working to change the chemical industry and lack of regulation. One of them shown over and over is Jeffrey Hollander, founder of Seventh Generation, who just sold Seventh Generation to Unilever, manufacturer of the product that won’t disclose the chemicals in the body spray product that sends the teenage boy into life-threatening anaphylactic shock. This is the company that is now manufacturing the Seventh Generation brand.]
At the end of the film, the solution presented is
- manufacturers need to disclose their ingredients and
- there needs to be better regulation. And the closing scene is his daughter calling an online business that is offering “flame-proof” pajamas, asking them if the pajamas contain flame retardants.
What this movie is missing is any mention at all that there ARE toxic-free products available.
A big message of this movie is that we can’t make decisions as consumers unless the big corporations disclose the ingredients of their toxic products. Well, I would like to see that happen too, however, it’s not a prerequisite for us to determine the products are toxic or for us to have the power to identify, find, choose and purchase toxic-free products.
My concern about the film is that it leaves the viewer with the idea that the world is 100% toxic, and there are no safe alternatives. That may be the filmmaker’s world, but I know that’s not true.
So if you see this film and share it, tell everyone to come to my website after to find out how to live toxic free.
Watch STINK! Free for the Month of October
Bunny Power Products
Rabbit manure tea, “That will help your gardens flourish…produced at our family run farm in a healthy, sustainable setting”.
Breathe Sleepwear
Surround yourself with linen while you sleep with linen sleepwear for women and men made by a small clothing design studio in the USA. “Artfully designed, impeccably crafted linen sleepwear….not mass produced, but made one at a time for each customer…carefully created from the initial design, pattern making, through the meticulous construction process, using only exceptional quality linens and other natural materials…not meant to be seasonal or trendy & my customers understand that they are making an investment. My hope is that these garments will become a staple in your wardrobe for years to come. I believe you will love your Breathe Clothing.”
Kinderfeet
A wooden push “balance bike” to ease the transition to pedal-powered bicycle at a toddler’s comfort level. Designed by a Dutch father as a gift to his son, “Our balance bikes are made from sustainable birch wood, from a replenishable source. The airless tires are completely biodegradable. We use minimal packaging material made from recycled paper and water based-ink. The chalkboard finish paint is water-based and the lacquer is non-toxic.” Also push bikes made from bamboo wood.
