I often talk about the under-appreciated art that lies to waste in the op shops and thrift shops of the world. Beautiful work that took many many hours to complete, lies discarded, undervalued and dismissed as ‘just craft’.

It is for this reason I started the Tapysteria Hack series of work. Taking an old and discarded piece of handwork, modifying it slightly and giving it a new audience with a new appreciation.

It must be acknowledged though that there is some truly terrible craft out there. I know everyone has to start somewhere and we all make mistakes. I adore the CraftFail site for the fact that it celebrates the fact that we aren’t perfect. And lordy knows there is enough pressure in some craft worlds for perfection. As if there isn’t enough pressure from the media for us to look perfect; apparently our craft should too..

However, this doesn’t mean the bad craft out there doesn’t deserve to be mocked every now and then.

I’ve always really digged the idea of stitching graffiti. Any idea that takes a traditional art and gives it a whole new perspective excites me. But I don’t think it’s something I’d ever do myself.  Like the retro computer game stuff, there’s enough people out there doing it and doing it very well. But it has got me thinking a bit about defacing and concepts of property and ownership and how they translate to craft. And I decided this piece was just ripe for it.

I found this – what would you call it – horror of a stitchery, in an op shop one day and was just blown away by how truly terribly executed it was. I’m sure the person who did it has some really good reasons why. But just as a found item, it was pretty horrific.

I decided this was definitely an example of the punk rock side to embroidery. Just forget the rules and conventions of technique. Just say NO! to even stitching and tension!

Yeah Punk Lives!!

Stitched using my bestest scrawl with the most appropriate thread I could think of DMC666 (I truly wonder if there are stitchers out there who abstain from using that colour on principle).

The original stitches are amazing. There is no uniformity of technique, tension, stitch size, direction or colour. Excellent!

I’m not entirely sure what to do with it. But thinking it might just come in handy during an exciting upcoming project I’m involved with. But it was sure fun to do!

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Craftster user craftcore has done these two gorgeous embroidered graffiti pieces. I especially like the crochet one. Especially in this time of a global economic crisis, I’d rather think we were using at as an excuse to create sustainable and self-sufficient communities rather than have a violent uprising. Sounds much more interesting (and less painful) to me.

Craftcore has also made some contributions to the upcoming issue of Hoopla which is perilously close to the photocopier!

Also found on craftster was plavalaguna’s version of the Firefox pattern which has been getting a fair few hits recently. So if you’ve been wondering what it looks like finished, here it is!

Check out her website and deviant art

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