RADICALCROSSSTITCH

Textile Tragedies

Over the weekend I had the immense pleasure of attending the Melbourne Social Forum.  It was a super inspiring weekend and I made some amazing connections with lots of people.  I was there under the banner of the Craft Cartel to both run a workshop and a stall.

I had a super awesome time with the stall.  Not really ’cause I sold heaps of stuff but it was a great opportunity to meet some customers face to face.  And nice to sell some things I’ve had for a while.  And some new things!  Like my police tape wallet I made last week.  Sold it to this nice young lad who’d been feeling real guilty about buying a $1.50 wallet obviously made in a sweatshop, especially since it started falling apart real quick.  Not only did I help him with a new wallet made out of Victoria Police TRASH (naughty litter bugs) but I showed him how to easily repair it if it starts to show signs of wear.  I’m thinking I’ll make a couple more of these and put them online for sale.

What was most fun for me running this stall was having the opportunity to talk to people about the sustainability issues around textile production.  It seems that with an increasing environmental awareness there’s plenty of people who know they should be conscious of water, energy, fuel, and paper consumption but there is little awareness about the massive waste that’s occuring with textiles.

What I found was that people understand that they should be aware of the materials that new clothes are made of.  There’s a good awareness of the environmental impacts of cotton growing and the benefits of wearing bamboo and hemp.  But not many people realised that most of the environmental impacts of cotton production isn’t the growing of the cotton (although that is definitely a big issue!) but also in the processes of turning cotton from raw material into cloth, especially coloured cloth!

And that’s just the production of material.

What really concern me is the massively ineficient use of fabric in our society.  So many clothes are being worn only a handful of times and then literally ending up in a landfill.  It surprised many people to realise that only about 8% of clothes donated for charity actually get resold.  Most of it is shredded for things like filling furniture.  But a fair heap of it is too dirty and torn or whatever and ends up being turfed.

We need to be so much smarter with our use of fabric.  We need to start by buying better quality clothes that are made from good quality sustainable fabrics and made to withstand a fair wear.  We need to learn to repair the clothes we have so they last longer.  We need to think of other uses for our clothes when we’re finished using them.  We need to ensure we donate all wearable clothes in a nice and clean condition to our op shops so they can be sold again.

Because at the moment tons and tons and tons of clothes end up like this every year:

And that creates more of a need for the toxic sweatshop slums spreading throughout the developing world

Does that make you sick?  I sure hope so.

So after plenty of conversations to fire me up, I really enjoyed presenting the workshop ‘The Fabric of Resistance’ which was about radical craft history, both contemporary and historical.  And looking into the ethics of contemporary craft which really dealt with some of the issues around sustainability and production.

We had an awesome session and were super lucky to have it in a beautiful hand made Mongolian Gur.  Which I sadly didn’t get a picture of but I’m tracking one down to put up here.  Thanks to everyone who came and made the workshop really successful.  And for those who didn’t, here’s the slideshow:

Yes, another world IS possible!

Badgeriffic

I’m getting super excited counting down to this years’ Melbourne Social Forum, which is on in just TWO WEEKS!  If you’re never been to a social forum before, it’s kind of like a global economic summit but without the white guys in suits, massive military presence and counter-productive outcomes.  The social forum movement arose as an alternative to the globalisation wave that was sweeping the planet at the end of the last millennium, based around the idea that ‘another world is possible’.

At social forums, grassroots activists who work in the fields of social, economic and environmental justice get together and update each other on campaigns, talk about their work and share skills and resources.

This Melbourne Social Forum there’s gonna be a pretty decent craft presence as the movement is really coming to grips with the idea that a big part of sustainability is making more of the things we use in our lives.  The Craft Cartel is doing a workshop (details to come) about craftivism and some of the issues around the consumerisation of craft.

And of course, there’s gonna be a market at the social forum!  There’s going to be heaps of different organisations with stalls so you can learn about all the campaigns going on and find out what you can do to support them.  And there’s going to be a heap of local, handmade stuff on stalls.  I borrowed a badge maker to make some more stuff to go on my stall and spent yesterday happily making mixed media badges.  There’s some at the top of the post.  Like?  You better come to the Melbourne Social Forum!

Bikes Not Bombs

I’m proud to be finally posting this one up!  This has been one of my ‘leisure’ stitches, ie a stitch I’ve not done for any particular purpose, just for the fun of it.  And it’s next in my series of Tapysteria Hacks (see the previous piece for a backgrounder on the series).

This doiley was found in a Salvation Army store (can’t remember where, it was a long time ago!) and had a price tag of 20 cents.

*sigh*

That’s cheaper than a second hand McDonalds toy.

*sigh*

So I decided that it should be added to and brought back to a state of appreciation.  I’d been wanting to stitch this slogan for a while as it’s one of my faves.  I don’t care if it’s a bit cliché.  There’s still too many bombs and not enough bikes!

I used a varieagated thread for this piece and I reckon it came out really well.  I used a thread to match the border as the outline.  What was quite tricky about this piece was that the fabric weave is really, really loose.  So I had to be quite careful with the tension to ensure that the fabric didn’t warp.

The problem I have now is that I really don’t know what to do with it.  There’s a few options:

1. frame it

2. use it as  doily

3. sew a backing on it and turn it into a bike flag

4. sell it as is

5. something else?

I have no idea.  Have you got any thoughts?

Craft Cartel Podcast Episode #8

The long-awaited Episode #8 of the Craft Cartel podcast, and we talk to Betsy Greer whom we all know and love from craftivism.com abut her new book ‘Knitting for Good: A guide to creating personal, social and political change, stitch by stitch.

Betsy has a great big long chat with Rayna about her new book, consciousness in the craft world and Paris Hilton.  Yip, Paris Hilton.  You have to listen to hear what that’s about. The three links as discussed in the interview are: d.d.i.y. don’t do it yourself by Lisa Anne Auerbach from the Journal of Aesthetics and Protest. The Story of Stuff The Gas Station Project by Jennifer Marsh And you can win a copy of the book!  Just send the answer to the question in the podcast by March 31 to go in the draw to get your own copy of this gorgeous book. 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!

If that doesn’t work (and it might not, we’re still having issues with the plugin that runs these things…) you can download the file directly from here.

We really don’t like advertising very much round these parts, so if you like what you hear, please make a donation to help support future episodes. It’s what an add-free world sounds like.

Radical Rainbow Seed Sharing

In the weekend I had the joy of attending my first Rainbow Serpent Festival.  It’s one of the biggest remaining trance festivals in the world and it was pretty freaking cool.  Probably a wee bit trendy for me, but hey, being able to get out in the bush, catch up with friends and check out some sunrises is never an opportunity to turn down.

What surprised me was the absolute lack of consciousness, both in the music and in the people.  I came out of the festival at the end thinking I shouldn’t slag off baby boomers any more.  Not only did I see fuck all of anything encouraging people to rethink our existence as human beings on this planet but quite the opposite.  It was a giant consumer fest.  From the pay showers in town on the way in to the refill strappy drink bottles..

It was billed to me as a place for cultural exchange but it’s not really what I saw.  And don’t even get me started on the ‘Ta-dah!’ trance…

Anyway, while I was out there I was keen to spread some love and spread some good conscious vibes.  So I decided to make some seed packs to share.  I made about twenty of these packs and stuck them in little nooks and crannys where I knew people would find them.

They each contained three beans and this little note:

Hopefully some of the good little consumers found them and it awakened some brain cells.  Especially the woman I handed one to out the car window on our way out.  I think she thought I was giving her drugs.  Hope she was pleasantly surprised.

I do have a couple left so any Melburnians out there who want one, email me your address and I’ll flick one your way.  Sorry I can’t send them any further than that, being plant material and all…

And here’s some more Rainbow pics!

Some inspiration

Righto, before I head of on my deferred christmas break, here’s some lovely impressive stuff I’ve found over the last few days.

Firstly, one of the best campaign ideas I’ve seen in a long time. Members of Surfaid (conscious surfers rule!) in collaboration with Saatchi and Saatchi collected a whole lot of rubbish off the beach, sorted it and packaged it to sell at the local farmers market.

I think what’s most important about this campaign is that it really drives home how quickly the little bits of rubbish add up.  Also intriguing the involvement of Saatchi and Saatchi in this campaign.  It would be nice to see more of the big marketing and advertising companies doing work for environmental and social causes.

props shape + colour

Continuing on the environmental theme is this genius piece of site specific art in Milwaukee

Great one for getting the kids aware!

props Wooster

Finally for a bit of old school inspiration is these lovely Great Depression inspired posters commissioned by ReadyMade magazine

You can check out all 5 and download them here.

Thanks Cate!!

Alternative Energy Kits – Now Available!

I know some of you out there have been keen to get your hold of the Alternative Energy Pattern so you can wear your bike love with pride.  But you’ve been hanging for the day that it finally got upgraded to a kit.

That day is here!

And not only is this kit supporting the Austin Yellow Bike Project but proceeds are also going to the Loophole Bike Repair Centre in Melbourne.  So this kit is an intercontinental(inanantiglobalisationkindaway)hummersmashing machine!  Thanks always to Katie Lee for this great design.

Each kit comes with everything you need including needle, thread, cross stitch fabric, pattern, instructions and inspiration.

Get your kit in the radical rags store today.

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.

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!

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?