um, a little late.

Yeah yeah, I know. It's been over a year since I've posted anything. Can we just ignore that and get to the meat of this post?

I'm currently not studying for finals and instead making a list of holiday gifts I will be (mostly) making and giving. Here's a cool link that I looked at last year but did not actually utilize. I'm on the fence about pledges, ultimatums, promises, etc. in general, but I like the spirit behind this buy handmade pledge so I'm using it this year.

I really want to post about what i'm making people for Christmas and other holiday presents but I'm going to hold off on the off chance that someone may still be reading this....

Anyway, one more week of school for this semester and then I have a bit of a break - wish me luck!

Happy Buy Nothing Day!

In honor of Buy Nothing Day, here are a few videos and links:

An advertisement for Buy Nothing Day from last year:


A quick trailer of Kids + Money:

"kids + money" by Lauren Greenfield (trailer) from INSTITUTE on Vimeo.


An extended preview of Kids + Money. I've got the whole thing if anyone would like to borrow it:
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2007/12/13/magazine/1194817108554/kids-money.html

Rev. Billy Talen on Buy Nothing Day:

gift season part 1 - where to buy.

   It's been a solid two months since I've posted. I knew working and schooling full time would be a tricky endeavor, but I may have underestimated just how much of a time suck it would become. When I'm not at work it's pretty much a guarantee that I'm at school, clinical, or doing homework. So, clearly my crafting has taken a backseat. I have plenty o' homework to be doing right now but I really wanted to post something about holiday gift giving before the arrival of black Friday.

   A couple weeks ago I was talking with some friends over dinner and one of them expressed his concern about making all his own gifts for Christmas. Basically, he really wants to give gifts, doesn't want to get things from the mall, but feels uncomfortable making his own because he might not have the time, creativity, or skill set. Myself and others told him about some alternatives that he just had no idea about it and it struck me that maybe others would like to know about these options as well.

Messenger Bag, Take 2.

  Sorry to the few friends who read this for taking so long to post! It's been a busy few weeks - full time school and full time work have made my schedule tight! In any event, I thought I'd write a quick note on back to school supplies.
  A little bit ago I posted about a laptop bag I'd attempted to make. It turned out well but I wasn't a huge fan of the way it looked. It was a little too matchy-matchy for me. So I attempted a "new" bag, made out of cargo pants and some bizzaro space alien fabric I had on hand. Without making this an instructional post, I basically cut apart some cargo pants and sewed them so that I created a tube with a flap and lined the tube with the alien fabric. Then, I created a strap out of the top of some jeans. There's got to be an official, sewing name for the top of pants. Sadly, my knowledge of fancy sewing terms is limited to "placket". Regardless, it's the bit at the top where the buttons and belt loops are. It's really thick, reinforced material so I thought it would make a good strap. The bag is completed except for this one component that I'm having trouble finding - it's a metal piece that would make the straps adjustable. I have only had a chance to check one store, but if I don't find it, I'll settle on using some D rings I have kicking around. Here are a couple pics of the bag in various stages:

   This bag got me thinking a little bit about why exactly it was that I disliked the original messenger bag I'd made. I realized that I like for things to look homemade. I like the recycled/repurposed aesthetic. In the same way that I do not enjoy walking into Target or the mall and seeing 500 things that look the same, I don't like looking at my own work and thinking it looks like I could have bought it in the store. The vast majority of the time, this isn't a problem. I am horrible at sewing. I'm lazy with crafts. I am idea and not skill driven when it comes to making things and it shows in my end products. So this aesthetic problem isn't one I grapple with very often. I have to wonder - is this some sort of backwards elitism? Do I want to prove to myself and others that I'm not wearing something that came from a store? It could be, I wouldn't put it past me. I think I do genuinely like more thrown together looking items. Made with love but not necessarily with the latest issue of Vogue in mind. I'm sure that like most things, the answer is somewhere in the middle. I am both being an elitist about craftivism and also honestly enjoy a certain type of style. I do think it warrants more reflection. I'm sure there's a sort of elitist component to my thinking/feeling on this and if that's indeed the case, I am compelled to root it out. I find elitism in myself, and the mental baggage that comes with it, far more distasteful than overpriced clothing articles. 

  

Money Spent.

     Unfortunately, I feel this post may be a bit boring. It mostly has to do with what I've spent money on lately so if you're not into that sort of thing, I'd skip this. Ok, preface out of the way...

    The past two weeks my bank account has seen a lot of action. All the money I've thrown around lately has seemed both oddly necessary and profusely irritating.

     To begin with, I am starting the clinical portion of a nursing program this fall. Nevermind that this will be my second bachelor's degree (and the first was a double major), and that I also have a Master's degree. Let me put aside the enormity of money borrowed in my somewhat academically redundant “career” and whine here about the cost of books. This, I know, is a very tired complaint but holy canoli batman I have never spent this much on books before. Not to mention the other gear needed for nursing – stethoscope, scissors, etc. Typically, I beg, borrow, and stalk online book sellers for school books but for various reasons, these options were not available to me this semester so I am out a month and half's worth of rent. 

    The other major-ish purchase I've made recently was for a work related event. I work as a sociotherapist for Hillside Children's Center and this week I was assigned to be a staff member at some amusement park events. In order to hang out with the kids in the water park I needed a one piece bathing suit, which I didn't own. No one in my immediate vicinity seemed to have one so I purchased one from Dick's. This was after going to Target only to discover that they weren't selling one-pieces. While at Target I also picked up a new sports bra. I run a lot and consider this an essential part of my wardrobe. Wanting to avoid purchasing from a company that may or may not be using shady business practices, I grabbed a bra made by Champion. I felt fine about this because I knew that Champion products are made in the US and even better, close to Rochester. Nope! Wrong on both counts, I discovered while cutting tags at home. The Champion factory I was thinking of shut down ages ago and my new article was made in the Dominican Republic. Ok, it may not be a sweatshop situation in the DR – but it's definitely not local. This, combined with my arduously long process of trying and subsequently failing to find a bathing suit that was first made in America and secondly, if possible, affordable, left me wanting to spend some serious time searching around online to try to find places to buy both items in the future. I say wanting because I'm working a crazy amount currently (to pay for the above mentioned books) and haven't had much time to myself. I found some websites that list companies that are all American made but I'm not going to put up their web addresses until I'm sure they're not promoting distasteful things like vague xenophobia.

     I'm not sure to what extent I could have avoided these shopping pitfalls. If I had known farther in advance about the work trip I probably could have borrowed a bathing suit. I definitely could have avoided the sports bra issue if I had done some more research before buying it. While I really did think it was made somewhat locally, it was still a bit of an impulse buy – something I try to avoid.  

    The other small bit of reflection I was taking away from these purchases had to do with the shopping experience itself. I felt really uncomfortable being in Target. And because my brain is the victim of two double shifts and an overnight I will list these irritants without much eloquence or explanation: the lighting was bothersome, the popcorn smell made me want to buy their popcorn, I was surrounded by cute disposable clothing that I had trouble not wanting to buy, the selections are overwhelming, and their prices are cheap. I realize now that besides the lighting, my list has to do with my own annoyance at myself for wanting to buy all this "hot bright trash". But I don't know that my annoyance with myself is really worthwhile. I like fashion as it relates to art (whatever that means) and Target tries to make clothes that are fashionable. I don't like looking like everyone else, buying things I don't need, or purchasing from companies that make products in ethically dubious ways. So I can like the way some clothes look and not buy them. But I think when I'm actually in the situation - when I'm standing in that clothing bonanza in Target - the decision not to buy can feel hard. And I guess that's a little disappointing to me. I would love for it to always be easy. I intellectually want to not want overly salted popcorn strategically placed by an entryway and mass produced in Thailand cotton tees that will be ill fitting within a month. But I do sometimes and really, I think that's ok. 

Things Made...

I realized this morning that I've been posting far more about shopping/consumerism dilemmas than I have about stuff I'm making. In an effort to remedy that, here are a few pics of stuff I've made in the last two weeks.

Just a plain white tea that I stenciled on.

More button earrings and a weird sculptural string barrette. It looks a lot better on than it does in the pic. 

I needed a messenger bag for my laptop. This was made entirely of scrap fabrics. A year ago-ish, I made a mei tai baby carrier for a co-worker (example) and had a fair bit of leftover fabric. There's tons of super convenient pockets and it's lined with a cute green print. Unfortunately, I really don't like this bag. It's just not my style. Luckily my roommate (who happens to have a sweet blog) likes it, so it's hers now! I'm planning on making a new one sometime before school starts from old cargo pants. 

I'm experimenting with making up my own cheap-o frames that can be taped to the wall because the new house has some very unmanageable plaster making it really difficult to hang pictures with actual frames. I actually like how these turned out but I may try something else next. 

Finally, a pic of the current design on the chalkboard wall in our rec room. 

The problem with compliments.

   In my last post I wrote about my conflicting thoughts and feelings regarding purchase parties, as I've been calling them - those parties in which you are invited to someone's home and then they sell you something, jewelry, makeup, etc. This past week, my house-mate and I had maybe the opposite sort of party, a swap night. Swap nights, just as the name implies, are get togethers in which the guests all bring items that they feel may be useful to others but are no longer useful to them. Often, it's a clothing swap. Our guests were invited to bring anything they'd like. I didn't have a lot of clothing to swap so most of what I had to offer were a plethora of dishtowels and some other kitchen odds and ends. Perhaps I shouldn't call this sort of party the "opposite" of the purchase parties since I'm still going to them or hosting them with the intent to receive items. In any event, it went well. I had a lot of fun and to my surprise people actually wanted my dishtowels. The few friends that came were generous enough to bring a lot of food and after we were done digging through each other's cast offs we settled in to some great snacks and some fun discussions regarding small scale revolutions.
  The only hitch in the evening, and I'm not really sure hitch is the right word here, was due to an exchange I had with my mom who stopped by near the end of the get together. She pulled out a small box that I recognized as being from the previous week's jewelry party and gave it to me. When I asked her what it was she told me she got me one of the necklaces that I liked from the catalog at the party. I opened it and sure enough, I did remember pointing it out. It was really nice of my mom to get me this necklace. She loves me and knows I love jewelry and that I don't have a lot of disposable income - so from her perspective this was a sweet gift. There are a lot of reasons that I don't want products from parties like the one I mentioned in the last post - I don't know where the materials came from, if they were produced ethically, and I'd rather support local artists, to name a few. Yet, I ended up with one of these necklaces because 1) I wasn't clear with my mom or others about my thoughts and 2) I expressed some sort of desire for something that I didn't really want.
   This gift reminded me of a conversation I had a couple months ago. I was teaching a program on DIY culture and crafting at a camp and I shared with the campers that I often have reservations about complimenting people on things such as new shoes, clothes, and bags. I feel weird about these compliments for a couple reasons. Often, these compliments are reflexive for me - I will have noticed something new and automatically spit out my approval. It has occurred to me that the compliment often has more to do with the newness of the item rather than some sort of aesthetic value. If I've seen one new pair of brightly colored Nike's, I've seen them all so why say, "Oh! I like your new shoes"? Anytime I am speaking without intention I think it is a good opportunity for me to pause and figure out why. Beyond the verbal reflex problem though, is the fact that I really don't like those new items 95% of the time. I know many of the products I'm complimenting are manufactured in ways that I find unethical and would rather not support. But when I compliment them, I support them - it's just with my words and not my money. And in the case of the necklace, I ended up supporting the company selling it through both my words and my mom's money.
   So, here's where I'm landing on this for now: I will be working on being more intentional with my words (an ongoing and long process) and I will compliment things that I really do find beautiful, both because of there aesthetic value and because they came to my eyes through good ethical processes.