Moksha Yoga

In January Greenworks was lucky enough to work with Monique Harris and Marie-Eve Boudreau, owners of Moksha Yoga in East Vancouver, on their new studio. They were very thoughtful about all the finishes they chose and were committed to building as green and sustainable as possible.  Greenworks supplied them with the Bamboo floor from Symmetry Bamboo for the studio as well as Green Planet, a clay-based paint which is a zero-VOC paint made without the use of petroleum. They also chose American Clay for two feature walls in the studio space. American Clay’s negative ions help to neutralize the static electricity associated with electronic gear from TVs to computers. For the bathrooms Greenworks had 2 custom vanities built with no added formaldehyde cases.  They topped them with Icestone counter tops. Icestone is a recycled glass and concrete countertop made in Brooklyn which is certified Cradle to Cradle. They painted the rest of the space with Yolo. They used some green products that Greenworks did not supply. They put some water filters on the taps to provide fresh drinking water and they used radiant heating panels to heat the space. They also have Caroma dual flush toilets which Greenworks now carries. This was a truly green renovation and Greenworks is very proud to have been a part of it. The studio is beautiful and they have great classes and events. Check them out.

 

American Clay in the Little Burro

We decided to use American Clay on the truck. We put some American Clay primer sand in some of our zero VOC paint primer to prime the wall. We used Loma with mud glue, no pigment, for both layers. Used one of our special Japanese pointed flexible polycarbonate trowels. I compressed the wall at the end with a tile sponge (big rectangular sponge).

Overall it was really fun. Just using a natural clay product was a really enjoyable experience, since I felt as if I was sharing in the experience of many people around the world over the centuries by using such a product. I probably put too much on since it's just supposed to be a credit card thickness for both layers, but I was trying to cover up some screw heads on the wall. American Clay is also nice in that it's forgiving and I could play with it for a while while it dried to get the texture I wanted, and then I could go back with the spray bottle, wet it, and work it again to make it look like what I wanted. It is definitely easy for a non-artist like myself to create a really beautiful clay texture on the wall. I found myself playing with the texture longer than I needed to since the artist in me emerged as I wanted to experiment and explore what textures looked good. I ended with a mostly smooth, even texture with a bit of variation. I really like it.

This has definitely made me want to experiment more and explore putting it on my own walls at home. I think I will put it on a test board, let it dry with a certain texture (writing down how I achieved that texture), take a picture, then rework it to create a different texture until I've created a few textures and can decide on one for my wall. I would also love to experiment with pigment and colour, and then there's also lime washing to brighten the colours and a penetrating sealer to try out if I'm putting it near splash areas. If I can do it on my first try (and I'm sure I could do it better/quicker if I practiced) and it still looks good, it's a keeper! 

Steven