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VEGAN ART SUPPLIES

August 3, 2016August 6, 2016Miscellaneous1 Comment

I am an artist and a creator. Buying new art supplies makes me giddy and I have a passion for creating.

I constantly need new materials to make more art, and when I stopped by my art store a few months after going vegan, I realized; are the products I’m buying cruelty free?

I did some research, and I must say, it took a lot of searching to find the answer. Below is a list of animal products/byproducts found in art supplies based on subject matter.

Art supplies commonly containing animal products:

Watercolor Paint- Ox gall is found in many watercolor paints, and comes from cows. Da Vinci carries extremely high quality watercolor paints, all free of ox gall. In addition to ox gall, you will need to steer clear from sepia paints, as the dye comes from squid and cuttlefish. To replace the sepia tone, there are some brands that use walnut ink instead.

Bone Charcoal: Not regular charcoal, as it’s source comes from plants, but bone charcoal. It comes from animal bones. If it doesn’t say bone on the packaging, its’s vegan friendly.

Fine Art Papers & Primers: Many papers, more specifically watercolor papers and other heavy-weight papers are sized with gelatin. Fabriano typically uses starch instead, and you can ask at your art store. For primers, many fine artists use rabbit skin glue, (yes, it’s made from rabbit skin.) An alternative would be gesso, but be careful. Gesso usually contains gelatin, but soy-based gesso is available online, and in some art stores.

Natural Hair Brushes: Many artists prefer natural brushes to synthetic, but there are many alternatives these days. Brushes made from real hair are manufactured using hair from trapped or hunted animals, of many species.

Some of my favorite cruelty-free art brands are:

http://www.colorsofnature.com – They make vegan brushes duplicating natural hair brushes.They also carry vegan papers.

http://www.fabercastell.com – They sell many different art supplies, all from plant or synthetic sources, and additionally don’t test on animals.

http://www.davinciartistsupply.com – Ox gall free watercolors

If I left anything out leave a comment!

FEAR OF CARBS/CALORIES

July 27, 2016August 6, 2016Food, HealthLeave a Comment

I, myself, am not a medical doctor or dietician. I have no medical recognition or training, but the information that I am sharing comes from people who do.

Growing up in a society that projects skinny girls as the only type of beautiful is troubling. The magazines and the media feed you diets and cleanses as a way to ‘Get That Perfect Bikini Body’. They also teach you that ‘Carbs Are The Enemy’.

When I decided I wanted to go vegan, I was unsure about what to eat. I went from attempts to cut out as many carbs as I could, to unlearning it all. One of the most informative, helpful books I have read is called The Starch Solution. It was written by John A. McDougall, MD. When I first went vegan, this book was a lifesaver. It covers nutrients, why animal products are toxic, and has lots of recipes.

The McDougall diet, is a high-carb, low-fat, starch based lifestyle. I think that everybody should listen to their own body and make decisions based off of it, and his diet is an option.

As a vegan, regardless of what you’re eating, carbs are very prevalent in the lifestyle. Its unavoidable. Which is why you should do your research, and decide what type of vegan diet you’re going to follow. Choose the one that works for YOU. Eat whatever you want to! As long as it’s cruelty free and includes vital nutrients, its all your decision.

I learned to stop calorie restricting, to eat as much as I want, and to love healthy foods by going vegan. Not only do you save animals, the earth, and other people; you stop eating toxic foods.

WHAT ABOUT CAGE FREE EGGS?

July 27, 2016August 6, 2016Animal RightsLeave a Comment

Many people think that only the meat industry is cruel. That killing only happens for meat. Which leads to a lot of people to go vegetarian.

I can’t blame them. I did the same thing. I was so uninformed about the egg industry. And it’s okay if you are, too. They spend millions of dollars every year to cover their tracks and spread misinformation. They aren’t even legally allowed to say that eggs are healthy when advertising them.

When I used to think about eggs, I pictured happy chickens roaming around. I think a lot of people imagine the same thing. But it’s the farthest thing from what actually happens.

In factory-farm type egg farms, hens are shoved into cages that they cannot even move in, typically with 3 or more hens. They live their lives in absolute filth and horror.

But what about cage-free eggs though? The hens must be happy and roam around, right? No. It’s the farthest thing from it. Hens are pretty much in the same situation, except they aren’t caged. They put so many hens in one space that they eat each other, break each other’s limbs, and peck holes in each other. It is such a myth that cage-free means happy, healthy hens. Even in organic farms, this happens.

In addition to the suffering that female chickens go through, all farms practice one of the most despicable things, ever.

Only female chickens can lay eggs, so there is no use for male chicks. What do they do with them, then?

When the males are separated from the females, they are either

Thrown into a grinder and ground to death
Slowly suffocated to death

It is one of the most disgusting acts I have ever heard of. Every day, I am reminded by how much cruelty is happening in the world.

What soothes my aching heart is the knowledge that I do not fund any of it, and I use my power to speak out against it. We have to educate ourselves about the truth.

http://www.earthlings.com