http://www.cheapjoes.com — Welcome to Cheap Joe’s Test Studio!

Today I want to talk to you a small bit about hazardous materials that we as artists use. We don’t want to quit using them because they play such a huge role in our art, so I’m going to show you a few ways you can dispose of these products and/or their containers.

Some of the materials that we use in our art can:

* Ruin vegetation

* Kill excellent bacteria in septic and sewer systems

* be poisonous to humans and to animals

So we want to be careful not to pour materials down the drain or outside.

The best exmample I know is your paint tube. It is made out of aluminum and you can recycle these. The only ones you can’t recycle are the hazardous ones like Cobalt or the Cad colors. It will tell you on the mark if it’s harmful.

So you will dispose of the harmful ones by putting them in a plastic bag and then putting them in the trash.

Another one is Turpentine or the thinner that we use. We recommend the Turpenoid Natural because it doesn’t have an odor and it’s very safe.

But what do you do if you have a container and you’ve cleaned your brushes? Take a funnel and a coffee filter, and pour the used turpentine through this to strain it into another container. Now you can reuse the thinner! The coffee filter will trap the paint materials and can be disposed of and the thinner is ready to be used again. So simple!

Glue generally is pretty excellent because it’s water based. But what you want to do is let the unused glue that you place out dry thoroughly and then place it in the garbage. Don’t place it in there wet. If there’s anything harmful on it the back will have a warning on the mark.

I like this stuff – this is Plaster of Paris in a mesh like a bandange. You simply wet it a small bit and you’re ready to make a plaster cast or a plaster statue, abstract art, or incorporate this into your art especially if you’re using acrylics because you can paint acrylics right over this.

Varnish. If you’re an oil or acrylic painter, then you use varnish. Here are a couple of different varnishes. Both of them have a warning on it that say it may be harmful to your eyes, harmful if swallowed, the vapor can be harmful and exposure may cause an allergic reaction.

So use this outside or use in a well-vented room.

Never place these in your trash. Take them to your hazardous trash collection. Be sure you know where hazardous trash collection is in your city.

This is one of my favorite new products called Montana spray paint. They have a wonderful array of colors – around 150 colors – and you get several different sizes of nozzles.

You can recycle these containers especially if they’re empty and you want to be sure they’re empty because they’re flammable. So always buy the smallest amount you need, and be sure you use all of it, then you can recycle these in the aluminum can bin.

These are paint strippers and solvents, distilled turpentine and these things are hazardous and should be disposed of properly.

We have quite a bit of information that you can find. Go online to:

* www.epa.gov — Pull up the Material Safety and Data Sheet

* http://www.cheapjoes.com — Hazardous Material

Here’s a recap of tips:

* always buy the smallest amount of hazardous material

* always try to recycle

* before rinsing brushes wipe them off on a cloth or paper towel

* always check the mark

* keep out of the reach of children

* know where your hazardous waste collection site is located

We’ll make the world a better place!

Duration : 0:5:50

Read the full tale

http://www.cheapjoes.com — Cheap Joe Miller of Cheap Joe’s Studio Tour

People question me all the time what my studio looks like, and this is my studio and I’m pleased to show it to you. I like it, I’m here everyday either in the morning or the evening, or sometimes about all day. I’m very fortunate. As you know I have lots of brushes and we’re going to be showing you lots of these different brushes in small segments and what they do and how they do. And of course I have lots of color, too, and we’ll talk about color one day and the mixes and I just delight in my studio so much.

I have all these drawers to organize things and here I have some partially finished artwork, and then I have an area where I do collage.

I made this small space after taking a Gerald Brommer workshop which I loved and it was a collage workshop. Now I have a small area here that I can do my collage papers and not make a mess over the whole studio which I usually have anyhow. But I like this small corner and I take my collage papers over to my easel and end them over there.

This is my worktable that faces my fireplace and of course everything is right here for me, my blotter, water, brushes, extra paint, and spray bottle. I’ve cleaned it up a small bit–it’s usually really messy. This is where I work and where I have so much fun doing my art!

Duration : 0:1:43

Read the full tale