Last year a good friend decided to divest herself of most of her textile paints and gifted them to me. As she was parting out the goods she offered me gallon jars of two colors. One was Aztec Gold which she said had been recalled. That right there should have been my warning….but no!
I carefully packaged this obnoxiously foul smelling gorgeous toxin so as to not stink up my car on the hour drive home. I painted with it the very next day and immediately knew why it was recalled. It has a lethal odor but oh my it prints a stunning hue. I put it back on the shelf and forgot about it.
Until this afternoon when I was using some new screens for a new series. I was scanning the rows looking for just the right mellow hue for this one particular piece of cloth when I grabbed an unfamiliar jar. I shook it well and it opened easily. And then I remembered. It was as if I let the genie of toxins out of the jar. Despite wearing gloves and mask, having the back door open and the fan running, it nearly bowled me over. Whew.
I held my breath as I screen-printed a layer of this toxic gorgeousness on the cloth then quickly sealed the jar again. I put it back on the shelf…as in what was I thinking?
Not until I came back upstairs did it occur to me that this exquisite color could be eating my brain matter and really is it worth it? No!
Tomorrow when I go downstairs for more layering I will add it to the box going to the toxic waste disposal. Life is just too precious …even for Aztec Gold.
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