Craft In!
Melbourne Craft Cartel helps patch up economic woes – Call to action!
Craft-in demonstration to be held in Bourke St Mall, Melbourne CBD, Monday December 8th
On Monday December the 8th the Rudd Government is giving big cash bonuses to pensioners, parents, low income families and first home buyers. The objective of this handout is to boost peoples spending in order to keep the economy pumping. What the Government isn’t talking about is the most effective way to spend this handout to truly support the economy.
As crafters we understand the importance of buying handmade. We know that buying a handmade present means supporting your local community as well as giving a big finger to mass produced sweat shop crap. We know that buying handmade is infinitely better for our environment too.
As crafters we also understand that in times of economic pressure, people are less likely to spend a few more dollars for the handmade option.
We want to give the community the message that if they really want to contribute positively to the Australian economy, they should forget the plasma tv and Buy Handmade and Buy Local this festive season.
Did you know?
- For every $100 spent at a locally owned business $45 goes back into the community and our tax base. For every $100 spent at a chain store only $14 comes back.
- Small local businesses are the largest employer in Australia. Every $1million spent locally equals 14 jobs!
- Non-profit organisations receive 250% more support from small local businesses than from large businesses. So if you support local business you support local causes too!
- Local business are more likely to purchase goods and services from other local businesses which dramatically reduces transport costs, one of the biggest causes of climate change.
- Handmade goods are more likely to include recycled materials which reduces the need for landfills
- Handmade goods are unique, high quality and set trends rather than following them!
The Craft Cartel will be supplying craft materials at the Craft In and encouraging passers-by to make a crafty gift or card themselves. The Craft Cartel will also be handing out an alternative gift buying guide, with plenty of ideas for christmas gifts that don’t cost the planet or our communities.
We are looking for more crafters, designers, makers and handmade retailers to join us on the street to spread the message of buying handmade. We encourage people to bring examples of your work and promotional material to spread to people on the streets. We want people to come talk to passers-by about the pressures they face trying to earn a living making and selling handmade goods.
So come join us on the street and spread the word amongst your communities about buying handmade!
RSVP on Facebook and spread the word
Poster Power
Power to the Poster is this ace new site that has heaps of fantastically designed posters on global issues that you can download for free and print in your hood. Heaps of them would make good stickers too.
And the best bit is that you can submit your own posters to the project. So you crazy conscious designers our there should go check out the submit section.
Yay for open source creativity!
We W.A.N.T. No More War
Sorry things have been a bit quiet round here of recent. I had this crazy election thing going on and then as soon as that was over we skipped over to Vanuatu to spend 10 days working with the local community on economic sustainability issues. More on that later when I’ve edited up video and photos! I have some serious craft loveliness from my trip to share!
We’ve also been pretty busy with the Craft Cartel summer market series. We had the first market (in the cold!) on Sunday at the Bicycle Film Festival B.est F.riends F.orever Street Party and it was an extreme amount of fun! Great to meet some new cartel members and awesome to see some mad bike fun going on. The Craft Cartel was sponsoring the market, Art Jam, the Bike Beauty Pageant (which I got to judge!) and the Bicycle Mating Project. Here’s some pics:
This is Dan from Nearly Road Kill with his best bad-ass face on. His belts made from old bike tyres were a serious hit with the BMX kids. This market was made for Dan!
My lovely wee stall set up on a plastic kids table which we grabbed from Savers on the way there!
They had Bike Polo too. It was mental. I actually thought it could be a bit more violent. But they tried their best. And I did admire the sticker on the bike in the foreground of this pic which read ‘One Less Horse’. Nice. If you find the thought of riding around on a bike while chasing a plastic ball to be your ultimate idea of thrillseeking, check their website for training and playing times.
(note the blue skies in that photo for all you who stayed home ’cause of the ‘rain’)
Some of the Craft Cartel crew have been busy over the last couple of weeks attaching gorgeous crafty valentines to bikes all over town. If you found one on your bike and also managed to find it’s matching pair, you could come claim a prize. These two bikes found each other and decided to come to the street party on a date. It got a bit risque…
There’s more pics on our Facewank group if you’re wanting more.
So while the cool kids of Melbourne have been celebrating all the different fossil fuel-free ways to get around and have fun, some crafty Iraq War vets have been bringing attention to the human costs of filling up your car. Called Operation W.A.N.T. (We Are Not Toys), this ace crew went and did an installation at their local gas station to show people just how many US soldiers have been buried during this state sponsored corporate resource grab.
Awesome pics by Jonas Lara
Props Groundswell
So now all my winter business has passed and my summer business is beginning I should be posting a lot more stuff on here. And we’ll be doing more work on the Craft Cartel site so you should get on the mailing list!
Craft Cartel All Grown Up
One of the reasons I haven’t been posting on here much recently is that we;ve been BUSY BEAVERS building a new website for the Craft Cartel. Yip, seven podcast episodes, a great market season and a public talk later. We decided it was definitely time to move out.
So go check it out, we’ve got HEAPS of stuff coming up. Get on the mailing list. And of course get in touch if you wanna be a member.
Free Lex Wotton
Today is the International Day of Action in solidarity with Palm Island man Lex Wotton who is due to be sentenced in the Brisbane Court for a riot conviction. Despite being the member of the community that assisted police out of the justifiably angry crowd, Lex was scapegoated and is now facing ten years in prison. While the man who murdered his nephew walks free with a $100,000 compensation and a medal.
There are actions happening across the world today. Check the Facebook group for the full list.
My wee contribution to the legal fund is some patches I whipped up. They are lovingly handmade on calico. No screens, just diy, cut and spray. Perfect for your bag. And all proceeds straight to Lex.
Get one (or lots, but probably contact me first re postage) here.
In solidarity
Four more sleeps!
For those of you people like me, living overseas, you probably should’ve voted by now. If you haven’t, get on to it quick smart!! I dare say it’s too late to post your vote and faxing is pretty damn expensive I hear. So you might want to check and find your closest voting place. All you aussie-based kiwis can get the voting locations here or check the elections website for the full list. I went and voted in Melbourne last week and I was in and out in less than 3 minutes.
And when all that fun stuff is out of the way, you can come party with us on Saturday at Horse Bazaar, featuring The Nomad! And the best news is that we’ve scrapped the door charge. So yes the rumours are true, this gig will be FREE.
Still not sure who to vote for?
Getting Sweaty
You might remember a while back we put up this pattern designed by Katie Lee and the profits have been going to the super awesome people who run the Austin Yellow Bike Project. We’ve sold quite a few of these patterns and it’s nice to think we’re helping get Texans out of their cars and onto bikes.
I really wanted to stitch it at some point and when I got this old school fluro sweatshirt, I knew this was perfect. It’s been produced especially for the first Craft Cartel market of the summer, which is a bike-themed market we’re running at the Bicycle Film Festival Street Party on Nov 23rd. So if you MUST HAVE this sweatshirt you better get along. I probably won’t put this online for sale.
I just adore the shininess of old clothing labels.
I’m also planning on producing some little kits for the market of this pattern. I’ll be donating half of the proceeds to Austin and half to a local bike recycling project. Although I haven’t decided which one yet, anyone got any tips? If you can’t wait to get a pattern or don’t need all the thread, fabric, needles etc, you can get an electronic one here.
And stay tuned for some very exciting new craft cartel news!
xox
Praise Seitan!
Craftster user torrance made a cross stitch and when I saw it I immediately knew it would be perfect for a vegan friend of mine. So when it was time for his birthday I decided to make a version of it for him. I’ve been cross stitching so much so I decided to do something different this time and screen print it.
And a close up for good measure:
I had some serious trouble getting a good print and I almost gave up for a while, but after some advice from a friend I finally succeded!
It’s about 20 x 30 cm, and the font is KaizerseitGotisch that I found for free on dafont.com.