Brooke Luallen: Plant Dyer / Art Teacher / Mega Multi-Tasker / Humanitarian

@smith.and.len
Etsy.com/shop/smithandlen
The scene:
We are at Brooke’s home sitting in her front room surrounded by artistic projects, children’s toy bins, and a Lomi composter that plugs in and turns food, bioplastics, and paper back into soil. This is a picture perfect representation of Brooke in a nutshell - so full of energy, optimism, life, expression, creativity, play, family, learning, teaching, experimenting, and ecosystem responsibility. Join us in our conversation about balancing all the parts of life, self-care, giving back, and a tour to the studio where the magic is happening!
Highlights:
+ Mom, Teacher, Artist, Wife - need we go on?
+ Elementary school art teacher
+ It’s ok to say you don’t want to stay home
+ Living and working in a HOME - to the Nth degree
+ Being passionate about everything
+ “People give me energy”
+ Mental health trips
+ Creativity is identity
+ Smith & Len - a natural dye business
+ Dyes made from plants and food waste
+ Finding your own fire
+ Branded for 3 years, in process for 12
+ Successful selling through instagram
+ Pop-up shops
+ Workshops teaching plant dying
+ Perfectionist
+ Dying naturally is therapy for letting go
+ Determination - a gift and a curse
+ Stubbornness vs. perseverance
+ The creative community of Fresno is awesome
+ Community over competition
+ Encouragement and collaboration
+ One woman band
+ Boundaries create sustainability
+ Post-partum depression
+ Self-worth
+ Being a people person requires non-isolation
+ The only expectations there are are the ones we put on ourselves
+ Finding your tribe
+ Working with non-profits
+ Learning the importance of giving back at a young age
+ Treat people like you want to be treated (the golden rule)
+ Gratitude for opportunities in life
+ Giving others opportunities
+ Missions work at 10 yrs-old
+ Loving learning causes you to love teaching
+ Kindness to others starts with kindness to ourselves
+ Creating something beautiful out of what’s available
+ @rappitup food “waste” into dye-baths
+ Full lifecycle processes
+ Mordants like soy milk or allum cause different color reactions
+ Candle holder collaboration with @edward_albert_design
+ Other collabs: @magnolias_yarden, @sampaynephoto, @laurelbotanicals
+ Next pop-up @root_general
+ Dye garden: Coryopsis, Scabiosa, Chamomile, Cosmos, Calendula
+ Bundle dyeing and steaming, printing with plants and a mallet
+ Fugitive dyes wash out - berries, beets, cabbage, pomegranate
+ Different plants need different water temperatures
+ Wild foraging plants for dyes
+ Animal fibers (silk and wool) take plant dye colors best
A taste:
“I learned at a young age that it’s always important to give back, it’s always important to treat people like you want to be treated. It’s so much in me that I want to be able to provide people with opportunities. I’ve been lucky and very blessed in my life to have the opportunities in my life, that I’ve been allowed and given, and I want others to have the same. So, it’s just been something that I’ve always learned - to take care of other people."
Favorite saying:
“Be kind to yourself, be k

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Love, Sagewolf xoxo