Hancock Shaker Village

Maybe today has been just a little too gray and rainy, because I found myself browsing through some pictures of our trip to the U.S. last summer. We had lots of beach and sunshine and we visited the Hancock Shaker Village.
It’s a very beautiful, and peaceful place.

Hancock Shaker Village view from the entrance

There was a bedroom where they used paint analysis to discover the original colours used. All of the wood in this room had been painted in reds, blues and fantastic yellow from the floor through to the  skirting and window frames.

Hancock Shaker Village painted bedroom

Of course the Shakers used peg rails every where.  This one was tucked into a little hallway and had was painted with the same colour as the wall. It had a 100 year+ burnished patina of the linseed oil that was probably used to protect the casein based paint that was commonly used during this period. The colour was a beautiful soft blue/grey.

Hancock Shaker Village Shaker peg rail

Colourant Dispenser a year on

I was having a scan though some of the previous blogs and found one written a year ago about our new, though very used, colourant dispenser. At the time, I was pretty upset about the state it was in.

During the past year we’ve stripped it back, completely cleaned it out and rebuilt it, polished it up, and really given it some love (thanks Tim and Tom). And after much searching and researching, we’ve found a supplier of VOC free colourant. By-the-by the colourant is also absolutely beautiful in terms of intensity of colours and range of tints.

I’ve begun mixing some colours and feeling out the new system, an interesting and privileged place to be. So far the colours are at either end of the range; from very clear pillar box red to the most muddy umber brown colour. (I must remember to take the red out and check it against a pillar box.) The intention is to reformulate our existing colours and mix all new colours with the VOC free colourant. This is one step towards making our business practice environmentally friendly.

 

A New Colourant Dispenser

Providence Paint has just acquired a used colourant dispenser. I’ve been looking for one for over a year. This one has 16 cannisters; our current one has only 12. This will give us the capacity to add colourants that I know we are missing and that means that we will be able to increase the range of colours that we mix.

However…. the dispenser hasn’t been given any love in a long,long time. The colourant in it is horrible and has clogged it up. It is gooey, and plastic and has comepletely siezed up some of the paddles that rotate to keep the colourant mixed. We are having to strip the cannisters down and completely overhaul it. It’s a messy job, and more than involved than we thought it would be. I’m worried that we won’t be able to put it back together again, too.

Also the colours of some of the colourants in this machine look awful. They are not as intense or as clear as I think that they should be. This is another reason why we have to comepletely strip back the cannisters, so that when we fill it up with new colourant it won’t be contaminated by any of this old stuff.

What are VOC’s?

What are VOC’s?
VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compound.
According to Wikipeida:
“Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are chemical compounds that have high enough vapour pressures under normal conditions to significantly vaporize and enter the atmosphere.” VOCs are emitted as gasses from certain solids or liquids.
VOC’s are widely used as ingredients in paints, varnishes, and wax. They are basically the solvents used to carry the pigment in the binder of paint.

As paint dries the VOC’s evaporate producing that ‘newly painted’ smell.
This is also known as Off-gassing. It is damaging to the environment and potentially to your health. Many VOC’s are classified as toxic. They can be responsible for headaches and the feeling of sickness that can result from painting without proper ventilation. Some people are much more sensitive to VOC’s than others. Oil based paints have the highest level of VOC’s and water based paints may still contain VOC’s, though at much lower levels.

Phase I of the European Paints Directive came into place on the 1st January 2007. Paint manufacturers are being forced through legislation to take action to reduce the levels of solvents in their products. The Directive recognizes that VOC’s are the precursors to the formation of ground level ozone (summer smog) and it aims to reduce emissions of VOC’s across the UK and Europe. The most stringent regulations come into place in 2010. It is believed that reductions resulting from the implementation of the Directive will lead to measurable improvements in air quality and public health.

To this end we are seeing more water based, or environmentally friendly and “natural” paints and varnishes on the market. We have always been keen to stock environmentally friendly product and currently stock clay paint from earthBorn which is completely  VOC free. It is manufactured for interior walls, has a very matt chalky finish and is breathable. This means that it can be used on period properties that require a paint that will allow the walls to breath.