Craft Cartel Podcast Episode 9: Faythe Levine
Hooray it’s Episode #9 of the Craft Cartel podcast, and we talk to Faythe Levine about her brand new documentary film “Handmade Nation”
by Sublime Stitching.
Rayna has a great chat with Faythe about the film, making zines, the GFC, and yes, Paris Hilton comes up again! Check out the Handmade Nation website and blog and Flickr site to see pics of the Aussie tour and of course, the Paris Hilton pics. A MASSIVE big thanks to the awesome people at in.cube8r Gallery in Smith Street for helping to make this interview happen!
The track off the podcast is Craft Talk by Leslie Hall. It’s Craft-tastic! Check the video:
Next up we bring back the zine review section and review:
The Thrity Crafter from Apartment Cat
Sharp and Pointy – a craft zine by mir UPDATE – you can buy it here!
Outdoor Knit: the graffiti knit kit from Outdoor Knit
And a bit of an update on the Craft Cartel. Check out the Fashion Jam pics here, read about Trash Bag Rehab here, and the Melbourne Social Forum here, and the City Press workshop here!
Phew!
And as always we’d love to hear from you, comment below or drop us a line. And don’t forget to check out the archive if you’re new round here.
The best way to listen to the podcast is to subscribe and download today!
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Media whores!
Since craft is totally the new black and recession chic is all the rage, everywhere you turn these days there seems to be a story about craft and how it’s practitioners are saving the world.
And we’ve been in some of them, yay!
Here’s an article that was in the Sunday magazine in last weekend’s Herald Sun, I think it was in the Daily Telegraph(?) equivalent in Sydney.
Click on the images to see them big.
Radical craft wins! And Brendan who wrote the story is a top crafty bloke too. He makes jam! mmm jam… And is was great having a big chat with him!
Casey and I were also on the sunday artsy program on 774ABC Radio in Melbourne just before I buggered off on my overseas jaunt. It’s quite the funny interview. I recommend a nice cup of tea and a 10 minute sit down while you have a listen (click to play or ctrl+click/right click to save).
Bring on the global craft takeover.
Seriously inspirational art
Photographic artist JR has produced these giant photographic portraits of Kenyan women and used the images to create water resistant roofing materials for Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa.
Now THIS is good art. Not only does it provide a useful visual function by literally putting a face to the sprawling slums. But it provides a useful function by improving the structure of the buildings themselves.
It must be far too easy for the wealthy to avoid the reality of slums. If you’re not poor you just don’t go anywhere near them. This installation brings the lives of the poor to the lives of the wealthy in a very clever way, by air. Of course planes must fly over these areas!
And what’s most effective is the images themselves. It’s not your stereotypical victimising wide eyed stare. These are images of vibrant, awesome and empowered women. It gives lie to the common perception (mostly perpetuated by neocolonial ‘aid’ agencies) that women living in poverty in Africa are passively accepting of the impacts of colonial economics on their lives. These images (well, to me anyway) show that these women are not only very aware of the causes of the poverty they experience but are also active participants in the saying ‘the whole world’s watching’. Pertinent given our current economic climate.
I really hope this work gets the attention it truly deserves.
props: Wooster Collective
Another piece of public art that I adored recently, in fact, had me in stitches, pissing my pants maybe?
Sick of men (mostly) pissing in public at night (do you guys know how much your piss stinks come day time? have you heard of disease?) Questionmarc installed these brilliant signs in Nottingham
Needless to say the local council has strenuously denied that it is acceptable to urinate in public.
Genius.
Supply Side Solutions – My Ass
I bet you been hearing a whole lotta talk from the housing/building/development industry recently about how the reason housing is so expensive is ’cause there’s not enough houses. And – my favourite excuse – that the industry hasn’t got enough land to build on.
The politicians, of course lap this up. Given that the majority of them aren’t actually trained classical economists, and a fair amount of them get some pretty nifty donations from the industry and a decent percentage probably make a reasonable income from property investment. It all makes sense to them.
And land rezoning is about the easiest thing a politician can do. It doesn’t require any legislation and they get a cool photo op with a spade and a pretty yellow sun hat.
UNFORTUNATELY this is all a bunch of bollocks.
Thanks to Tohm Curtis and his recently released report commissioned by Earthsharing Australia, we can now quite conclusively demonstrate that the issue isn’t supply it’s speculation.
Any idiot can tell you that if you have a resource and you want to make it more valuable, you don’t sell it all at once, you drip feed it into the market. That is exactly the issue facing our housing market. Far from the real estate industry’s advertised vacancy rate of 0.7% in inner Melbourne, the actual vacancy rate is 7%. To put that in real terms that’s 2,317 properties empty in central Melbourne during Australia’s worst ever housing crisis.
This speculative vacancy is what’s really driving the housing crisis.
So while there’s over 200 Melbourne University students without a home, there is enough housing vacant in Carlton alone to house every single one of them. And it’s their parents’ generation that is doing it to them.
At the start of last year there were 38,000 existing residentially zoned blocks of land vacant in Melbourne being help by the six big developers. This year Brumby gave a massive handout to the development industry and rezoned another 90,000 blocks of land for residential purposes.
NINETY THOUSAND
So has anyone noticed the price of land drop this year? Didn’t think so.
Of course the majority of that land was already owned by the developers so the rezoning made them overnight bajillionaires. And no, they won’t be building affordable housing, they’re building more suburban mcmansion ghettos which will be drip fed into the market to ensure they can charge the maximum amount for each and every one of those houses.
Our generation has come aboard the space ship of planet earth but all the seats are taken and we are left squeezing in the aisles.
The time has come to get real angry about this. Not angry and irrational, but angry and organised. Anyone keen to help out with creative action on this issue (and there are so many fun, beautiful things we can do!) should get in touch. We’ll be getting together in the new year to plan what to do.
Radical Craft Wins!!
Holy crap!
Yay!
Anna won $3000!!!!
Woohoo!
And those of you who know Anna will know that she’s working on a full length craft documentary so this prize money will probably see the project finished. Yay!
Congrats to all the awesome entrants. Especially the Shocking Stuart crew who filmed a cardboard box inspection across the road from a real house auction. Well deserved second place. They’re even auctioning it on Saturday in Fitzroy somewhere. Sorry I don’t know the details, will try and update this post when I do.
Thanks to Earthsharing Australia for organising a great idea for a film competition. Can’t wait to see the entries for next year!
The revolution is SO happening and it’s a fun one and a beautiful one.
I Want To Live Here – Tonight!
Hey all
A reminder to come check out the I Wanna Live Here housing affordability short film comp finals tonight. Not only is the Craft Cartel running a market but there’s a craft film in the finals!
Yip, the ever awesome Anna Brownfield made s short film about the Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle anti-land banking action back in August and it’s one of the finalists to win $3000!
We even got in The Age. I suspect the journalist that interviewed me is a closet radical crafter. I hope to get her along one day. Maybe we have imbedded journalists in radical craft actions?
See you tonight!
Wed Dec 3rd
The Order of Melbourne
Level 2, 401 Swanston St (opp RMIT)
6.30-9pm
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
Global Economic Crisis Craft
Goodness, seen the news recently? I’m mildly enjoying the irony of all the free marketeers crying out for state assistance. It reminds me of the old Mussollini quote “Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”
So given that we’re rapidly heading towards a global depression of a level never seen before, it’s time for you all to be thinking a little bit more about making your lives a bit more self-sufficient. Luckily for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the best time to be planting a whole heap of stuff, so we’re gonna have cranking vege gardens soon. I’m super excited that my tomato seeds I carefully saved from our last harvest are sprouting on the bathroom window sill. And since we have a cranking grey water flow from the washing machine out to the back garden, all our shower water is now going straight to the vege garden out front so it’s humming along.
But it’s also a good time to think about the items you use in your daily life that cost you a bit to replace that you could just as easily make. So I want to recommend a couple of crafty economic crisis projects for you.
Firstly, every one needs knickers. And given most knickers are badly made from cheap and boring materials, it makes a whole heap of sense to custom make your own. LUCKY FOR YOU the ever inspirational paintergirl has got the Kaotic Kraft Kuties DiY Knicker pack for sale in her etsy store.
You get the pattern, instructions and fold over elastic (which I am now quite convinced, is indeed awesome), all you need is an old tshirt or stretchy fabric and scissors, thread and a sewing machine and you are sorted. It says you need basic sewing skills and that’s pretty accurate. I hadn’t used a sewing machine in months, and I’m far from good at using one, and I handled this project beautifully. Although my knickers turned out more art project than functional undies..
But you could make some that look like this!
How hot is that?
And the best bit is that if you get this kit, you can make as many knickers as you desire, you just need to get a bit more elastic and fabric somewhere along the way. This is a perfect project for getting together with a bunch of your best crafty buddies to make. If you do make some, make sure you share with the Kuties so we can all purr over your creations.
And of course a good thing to go with knickers is making your own cloth pads. The last thing you want to waste your scarse dollars on during a global depression is wasteful throw away bits. Plus, cloth pads feel so much lovelier, your body will love you for it, I promise. There’s a great pattern list on the Goods 4 Girls website and while you’re there you might want to get inspired to make some to donate to them while you’re at it.
So, anyone else out there got any hot crafty tips for surviving a depression?
Economics without the spin
If you’ve been watching any of the news about the global economic crisis recently you’re probably wondering why all the ‘expert commentators’ are bankers, traders and politicians aka the people that got us into this mess. But if you wany to learn about what this economic crisis is really about and learn about the real solutions to use the economic system to put us on a true path to sustainability, Economics for Activists is the course for you!
Hosted by Karl Fitzgerald who you all know as the host of the Renegade Economist on 3CR, this four-week course is designed for activists keen to get to the root causes of many of the social and environmental injustices we face today.
It’s a four week course starting next Tuesday and registrations are limited and essential. It’s only gold coin so anyone can afford it. Get on over to the Earthsharing Australia website and register your bad ass self today.
xox
Craft Cartel Podcast Episode #6
This episode on the Craft Cartel podcast, Casey’s back!!! So we have a lovely chat about crafty South East Asia travels. And we go out on an EXCLUSIVE adventure with the Melbourne Revolutionary Craft Circle on their latest crafty night out.
We got some ace music from Boil Up and the super awesome and currently touring North America, Blue King Brown!
Our zine review this week is Havoc from the Huon Valley Environment Centre (download and donate!!!!) and the Weld Echo zine from the Black Sassy Arts Collective.
The websites to check out are:
We also talked about a couple of events. First was ‘the revolution will be handmade: political fabric crafts and the struggle for social justice’ a public meeting that we’re organising on the 4th of September. It’s at 6.30 pm level 1, 27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne.
And we’re organising a crafty bike competition in collaboration with the Melbourne Bicycle Film Festival. If you’re keen to get involved get in touch. And we’ll be running a market during the Festival so start making your bicycle themed crafts all you makers out there!
And as always we’d love to hear from you, comment below or drop us a line. And don’t forget to check out the archive if you’re new round here.
The best way to listen to the podcast is to subscribe and download today!
Putting this podcast together is a labour of love but it does take a bit of time and effort, so if you like what you hear, feel free to chuck some dosh in our virtual busking hat. We’ll love you for it!