Nov
25

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!