sprayed: the cost of altered floral materials part 2
When I wrote part one of this series about a year ago, I never thought it would take off and resonate with as many people as it has. I was curious, and I couldn’t find an answer to my questions about the popular bleached floral products that were becoming (and continue to be) trendy amongst florists. I am thrilled to have seen my work referenced and shared by some of my heroes in sustainable floral design since then.
In that piece I briefly mentioned painted and dyed products, but I generally focused on unraveling the bleaching processes. I have as many or more questions about painted and dyed products, and I think there are still a lot of mysteries surrounding these products and processes.
As a flower farmer and former art teacher, I am most troubled by the disposal of painted and dyed natural materials. For the purpose of this post, I’ll again focus on one of these practices. Let’s tackle paint for this one.
A LITTLE INTRO:
Spray paint is a form of liquid plastic (acrylic) that is expelled from cans in liquid particulate (dust) form. When natural materials with spray paint on them are thrown away, the organic plant matter breaks down, but the particles of plastic do not. They become again small particles (or clumps of small particles) of plastic. These particles and pieces can be easily consumed by wildlife or trickled into our water supply.
I’ve seen some florists tout “Sugar” spray paint as a more sustainable replacement to regular spray paint, but in reality these paints do little to improve the situation. They are still plastic-based paints. They include a solvent with alcohol made from sugarcane — that is where the name comes from.
I’ve also seen the Design Master “Uber Matte” series of spray paints popularized in floral design circles. Below, please see the “sales pitch” for this series on the Michael’s website. Two things strike me about the description. One- the vast majority of the intended uses here are directed at what I would call permanent or semi permanent applications. They are not single use projects. Second - note the last item mentioned under the “details” list. It says “for indoor use only.” Meaning: use of this paint is for indoor projects. Not outdoor projects. It isn’t made to be outside breaking down in nature. It’s right there in writing, folks. We shouldn’t be putting this product into our landfills.
(I guess the first line is a bit odd, too….spray paint on pitchers? hmmm….I’ll pass on the spray painted kitchenware…)
From the Michaels.com description of Design Master Uber Matte paints:
“Transform pitchers, wooden boxes, planters and home decor accents into beautiful artifacts using this Ubermatte spray from Design Master. It offers a beautiful ultra-matte finish, perfect to refurbish surfaces like terracotta, stone, glass and paper. You can use this spray as is for a contemporary finish, or experiment with different techniques to create a classic vintage finish.
Details:
Available in assorted colors
10 oz.
Pigmented, lacquer-based color
Flat ultra-matte finish
Fast 6-minute drying time
Strong adhesion and quick coverage
Covers up to 20 sq. ft. with a single coat and 10 sq. ft. with a double coat
Scratch resistant and hard wearing
Clean non-perishables with Mess Master, lacquer thinner or acetone
Compatible with Design Master color sprays
For use on surfaces such as Styrofoam, acrylic, fabric, ceramic, fresh flowers and more
For indoor use only”
Aside from all the things in these plastic-based paints, the pressurized cans may also be considered hazardous waste in your area. They require responsible disposal per your town or county’s regulations. Currently, the Environmental Protection Agency calls un-emptied aerosol cans hazardous wastes, because the propellants can be flammable. Punctured and/or drained cans are landing outside the hazardous waste category. (But please don’t try rupturing cans yourself. Some waste management companies have purchased a special tool for this job.)
Now I’ll put on my “painter’s cap” for a bit. I want you to know that I don’t hate paint. I taught several different kinds of art courses for almost a decade to high school students from the beginning to Advanced Placement levels. I painted a bit on the side for myself, too. If you look carefully at my Instagram feed, you can see my favorite portraits in the backgrounds of some of my floral still life images.
In the last years of my studio art work, sustainable practices in art making and art material disposal became an important part of my process and lessons.
Here’s the thing with acrylic paint: Plastic-based paints should be collected and dehydrated into a solid mass prior to disposal, rather than washed down a drain or dispersed in a particulate manner in nature. I learned to instruct students to wipe off as much paint as possible before washing their brushes and palettes. We reserved the dirty water from mixing paints and washing brushes in large buckets. The buckets were left to dry out so that a skin of solid paint would form. That solid “skin” would be disposed of as singular larger pieces of plastic to prevent entry into the water supply and to cause as little damage as possible. Here is more information from Golden about paint disposal.
For our purposes here— imagine stepping outside and spray painting a section of a meadow. This is essentially what we are doing when we paint natural products and then send them to decompose in landfills or put them back out into nature again. The plant material breaks down and all those tiny bits of paint are incorporated into our ecosystems.
Need a little more convincing? I leave you with this quote by Amy Stewart in Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful.” In Chapter 7 (Forbidden Flowers), Stewart transitions from the chapters explaining what she’s learned about flower breeding and growing to “selling”. She writes, “The 1950s saw the introduction of a wide range of dips and dyes that allowed florists to create any color they wanted. Some of them also contained a preservative that would make the flower last longer. The early sprays were so powerful that they could melt Styrofoam, which was often used to make floral sculptures. (It’s a wonder the flowers survived it, but apparently they could withstand the paint, and the foam could not.)” If you’ve used spray paint around styrofoam, you’ve likely witnessed this melting effect, as well. I can remember seeing it happen in my childhood when we made some styrofoam tombstone decorations for Halloween.
The #nofloralfoam movement has gained so much momentum, but I hope that we can grow to think more broadly about all our processes. We don’t see the remnants of these painted products (for the most part) in our water buckets, like we see the crumbles of green foam that we’ve come to understand are REALLY bad for the environment. Instead these materials are cast into dumpsters behind our event venues. Out of sight. Out of mind.
It’s quite troubling. I’ll go further and say that the painting of natural floral materials is an entirely unnecessary, trend-driven practice.
So, what can you do when you want some kind of bold or unusual color? Become a student of the plants. Learn where you can find naturally brown foliages so that you don’t feel the need to paint something that color. Need something bright yellow in winter? - Learn to collect craspedia and strawflowers in the summer or buy those materials from someone who saves and dries them as part of their business. U.S. flower farms have these products. And- if we (the farmers) know florists will buy more of them, we’ll grow more and save more for you. Ask your local growers if they have materials in the colors you need for your work. Forage responsibly and with permission for those things that fit into your color palettes already. We CAN do this!
When a wholesaler comes to you with “we only have dyed or painted or bleached this or that left. Say, “no.” Tell them why. And then hop on Google and see where you can find what you’re looking for. I recently reached out to a major floral distributor to source a large quantity of highly desired Lunaria. She told me all the natural product had been sold, would I mind bleached. I explained to her that I don’t purchase altered materials on account of their negative impact on the environment. In less than a minute I located a U.S. grower with large quantities of natural lunaria at $5 less per bunch than the wholesale distributor’s price. AMAZING. Healthy choices can save you big money, too.
Master this art that is both yours AND Nature’s. Commit to a healthier design practice for yourself and all inhabitants of this planet. No event, no matter the scale or budget, is worth the damage that is being done. Let’s all do our part to set healthy floral trends.
If you are a customer, PLEASE request that your florists abstain from purchasing these products for your arrangements. While designers and wholesalers start trends, it will ultimately be up to informed consumers to help end them.
As always, thank you for tuning in. It’s been a while since I sat down to write out some thoughts here on my blog. Quite frankly, we were so busy during the wedding season that I forgot how much I enjoy it. There was also that little bit of the “can I even do it again?” doubt that I think enters everyone’s mind when they step away from something for a while. More posts coming soon. I appreciate your thoughts and comments.
Warmly,
