craft

Wendell Castle’s 10 Adopted Rules of Thumb.

| Betsy

Wendell Castle is true inspiration when it comes to craft and furniture. But it also turns out that he has some wonderful rules to live by as well. I discovered these rules from a post awhile ago on Heather Cameron’s lovely blog True Stitches. After re-reading them this morning and finding them inspiring once more, I thought I would share them with you. The photos below are of his Black Widow and Crescent Rocker, respectively. Have a lovely weekend!

1. If you are in love with an idea, you are no judge of its beauty or value.
2. It is difficult to see the whole picture when you are inside the frame.
3. After learning the tricks of the trade, don’t think you know the trade.
4. We see and apprehend what we already know.
5. The dog that stays on the porch will find no bones.
6. Never state a problem to yourself in the terms it was brought to you.
7. If it’s offbeat or surprising then it’s probably useful.
8. If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not find it.
9. Don’t get too serious.
10. If you hit the bullseye everytime, then the target is probably too near.

Want to learn more about Wendell Castle? His webpage is over here.

Other things I’ve been loving lately:
*The History of Science Society!
*Batala: DC’s All Women Percussion Band
*Cotton of the Carolinas (from dirt to shirt)
*Lee Meredith’s (Leethal.net) new blog, Do Stuff!
*The Papered Parlour (new indie craft venue in London)
*Ode to Wooster Collective (by Hulaseventy on Poppytalk)
*UrbanVegan.com’s 101 Simple Meals in 10 Minutes or Less
*Drooling over images from Diane Gilleland’s new book on kanzashi tsumami, the Japanese art of folding, Kanzashi in Full Bloom

Also, have you checked out my new project about living the creative path with Kim Werker yet? Do come say hello over on The Creative Life!

down with irony!

| Betsy

Lately I’ve been seriously entertaining the idea of persuing my PhD in either cultural anthropology/sociology/cultural studies.

I want to have the chance to research the issues surrounding craft, domesticity and modernity from a historical perspective in order to figure out what is happening in the present.

Because on the one hand, it seems like it’s just about the teeny tiny world of craft and the current resurgence, but when you look at the other, there’s a whole wealth of history holding up the present pillar. Crafts have been something that humans have always done, given a bit of free time and spare materials.

Sometimes I worry that women my grandmother’s age view this current re-interest in crafts as just a trend based on irony. Lately I’ve become sick of irony, and how irony has become the cornerstone of our wardrobes, leisure time and vocabulary. I can’t tell you how refreshing it is to actually meet people who are real. And who have genuine interest in things, and genuine passion for it.

There is nothing I love more than when I am crafting in public and someone my grandmother’s age comes over and tells me stories about how she (or he!) used to knit/crochet/embroider. I want them to teach me all the skills they have learned before the current upswing where every town had numerous knitting circles. I am craving learning those skills that are passed down from generation to generation not passed down via printed pages on a book.

In researching knitting for various projects over the past few years, that’s what I have come to be most endeared by. The lack of pretension, the eagerness to share and communicate and the pure love of the craft. And no, I don’t think that irony is something just in the world of craft, in the past few years it’s inundated more than a few facets in my life.

I just want to return to the real.

Oh, and speaking of the ‘real,’ there’s nothing better at making you feel more connected locally if you volunteer! So go see who needs your help in your area, thanks to volunteermatch.org!

i dig punk the most.

| Betsy

ever since the seeming dark days of high school, i have not-so-secretly loved the spinanes. at 18 i thought rebecca gates was a nothing but a genius when she sang, “did you give up punk for lent?”

i thought about this on the tube this afternoon while reading the new issue of punk planet. about how i got an email from a dear friend recently saying how glad she was that i was stickin’ to my ‘punk rock guns’ and ideals.

walking around london, there is nothing but evidence that the ‘spirit of ’77’ is alive and well.

but that’s not what my punk is all about.

it’s about teaching and learning and growing and rocking and making and creating and laughing and loving and well, being.

it’s not about the dick hebdigian notion about the clothes you wear, the vinyl you buy (either in wardrobe or music or both) or whether or not you consider anarchy politically viable. sometimes i think that’s forgotten about.

some of the best punks i know don’t own anything put out by lookout! or know who henry rollins is (in either career). why? because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. it’s not about credentials. some of the punkest moments i’ve ever experienced were without a tattoo or grommet in sight.

as i’ve gotten older (29 on july 11!), i’ve finally begun to realize that it’s not about what you’ve done or who you’ve met, it’s about what your ultimate ideals are. i’ve seen many sparks lit in the teens, only to be extinquished by 21, but i’ve also been privileged enough to have been a part of awakenings that happened in people twice that age.

each time you make something with your own two hands or purchase something that was produced ethically or make choices that don’t weigh heavy on your heart you are creating your own mini-punk rock revolution.

by daring to follow your own dreams and passions you are shaking up the world just a wee bit, creating teeny tiny revolutionary ripples for the rest of us to add to. and i think that’s pretty neat, even though it has nothing to do with how many 7″s you own or whether or not you think that jawbreaker sounded better pre-blake’s operation.

for the record, i still think that rebecca gates is a genius. because ‘punk’ has little to do with a dresscode or a rulebook. it’s all about all those little idiosyncrasies that make you you and living your life the freest and bestest way you know how.

now go pat yourself on the back for being the punk rock revolutionary that you are. go on, you deserve it.
x

why craft = punk rock

| Betsy

living in london, i’m constantly amazed by the fact that the so-called ‘subversive craft scene’ is non-existent. in the u.s., it is everywhere you look and it’s not so much a ‘call to arms’ as it is an expression of something i/you/we can do with our own hands to make our own lives as well as the lives of others a little bit better in the chaos of life around us.

currently i’m helping out with an event called Craft Rocks! at the V&A museum here in london.

there is a press frenzy surrounding it and i’ve been dealing with people who are calling knitting a ‘trend,’ a ‘fad,’ a ‘craze’ and i can’t help but get a little but frustrated by it all yet continually finding it all naive. both my reaction to the press interest as well as their wanting to just find a creative angle to fit their byline.

i don’t do my various crafts because it’s ‘trendy,’ although i do sometimes have crafty dreams that include everyone turning off their televisions and making stuff, whether it’s knitting a sweater or making macaroni necklaces or screenprinting fliers for a local demo. anything as long as you are letting your passion be your guide rather than what’s seen a ‘popular for the moment.’

i’m fascinated by the emails i get from people in regards to their pure love of various crafts. some of them are confused about what i’m trying to do here with this blog or in various work i do. i want to be a resource for people that want to help other people with their various crafty endeavours. maybe i’m helping to fill that void, or maybe i’m just taking up more space on the interweb, i’m not sure most days.

no, everything i make doesn’t go to charity. but some of it does.

the other part of my crafty dream is that everyone becomes conscious of all of their actions.by asking things like: do i need this? do i want to support this company? how can i help? where does my passion lie?

it is all quite emo and i’m sure my parents would conclude that i’m now a hippie.

but it’s about more than that.

my background is firmly entrenched in punk rock. i was always cutting and pasting my own little zines (and then hiding them under my bed because i felt they were crap) or daydreaming about playing drums in the next bikini kill.

but i never felt like i was good enough at anything really to make my mark. it was only when i started learning to knit, crochet, embroider, screenprint, make books, felt, etc etc that i regained my own sense of self and that fire that punk rock put in my belly when i was 16.

craft to me is very punk rock and it’s hard to read article after article about how craft is just for ‘grannies.’ i love my grandmother who knits, she is kickass, but i’m also inspired daily by the way that punk rock influences my own brand of activism and craft. craftivism, if you will.

who knows, maybe you feel the same way, maybe not. but i can never ignore how punk rock shaped my crafting. i owe my creativity to it, and it’s so not just a trend. and some days i get homesick for people who understand that.

xo

change in vocabularies…

| Betsy

Been wondering today about the roots of both craft and activism. The way that craft has been brought from home into the public sphere (as directly in relation to the old adages of feminism being trampled) and activism has been brought into the home sphere via the public (by making our own things we are being activists). And the way that the repercussions of such moves are instigating a PR change for two very stigmatized words.

Baby, I’m not a fan of PR, but it was about damn time for an overhaul.