Community Quilt

Lockdown threw up unique challenges for everyone, for better or worse it was a completely new experience and one that will stay with us as a global community, a shared global experience. My Lockdown was dominated by my curiosity and exploration of my locality during our Hour of Daily Exercise and the translation of this into artworks created for my first year of University. The first year which was half on campus, half at home. 

Given that I have a lot of textiles and the tools to work in different textile methods, my work took a turn in this direction working from home. Thinking about documentation of time/experiences/ideas/collections I have been playing about with the presentation of this through collage and patchwork, and with a personal interest in sleep (suffering from chronic lifelong insomnia) this led me to consider quilts/blankets. I have never made any quilts since it is usually very meticulous and perfect - not something I enjoy doing when I am letting loose creatively - however, I am trying to investigate quilt making in a more free and expressive way. Starting with a quilt based on loose paintings of potsherds found in the local Brook during Lockdown, dying the fabric with clay from the river bed, I want to move to a community linked quilt.

I have made a Call for Fabric, any textiles attractive or ugly, old or new, large or small to create a quilt for the Lovely little community on Our Road. I have no idea whether I will receive enough donations to make a large or a small quilt, or many quilts! I am hoping to hear stories of why these textiles might have a special link to Lockdown, perhaps the stories might be more important than the quilt. 

I have one donation to begin with...here’s hoping for more! Exciting!

Fast Fashion, Living Dangerously

I wrote this in 2018 as something to work on, but I think it reads fine so I have decided to post it as the original unedited rant. It is by no means an exhaustive list etc.

Fast fashion and the garment industry is one of the most terrible things happening on the planet at the moment, and consumers are just lapping it up like these are the golden days. We will look back on this and be pretty disgusted with ourselves.

The main problems;

Unfair labour in producing the garments with poor quality of life and poor pay.

Consumer demand for ever increasing low prices, clothing costs less now than it did in the 1980s; this drives down the prices for the labour and further reduces their quality of life.

Contamination of water systems in garment productions; companies not following regulations to ensure local water supplies remain clean.

The overuse of water for clothing we are in no need of; water is used for growing the crops that the clothing is made from, cotton is a very thirsty plant and this is causing water shortages across the globe. Not to mention contamination from pesticides to the local populations.

Cotton is also not easily biodegradable.

Microfibres washing out of synthetic clothing every time we use the washing machine, we are drinking loads of the little blighters already in our tap water.

An enormous amount of clothing being sent to landfill every day when the fibres can be repurposed, no matter how holey they are.

Not buying quality.

Buying because you can.

People wearing 20% of what is in their wardrobe.

Endless seasons with no covetable clothing, I look at the stuff in shops and think 90% of this is trash – and that is probably true.

The industry doesn’t have a heart – the big high street companies outsource the production and find the cheapest they can which often means poor regulation and little concern for humans, the environment etc.

WHAT WE CAN DO!

1.       Boycott the high street

2.       Buy the best you can afford (this might mean using the high street – which is fine, we all have to live within our means, but our means don’t necessarily mean owning 10 pairs of trousers)

3.       Buy second hand – I use charity shops, vintage shops and eBay to find preowned clothing. I also try to find the best quality clothes as these will last well and when I am tired of them they are still in good condition and go back into the second hand market.

4.       Keep a minimal wardrobe and make sure everything works together as outfits.

5.       Wear the same great outfits again and again – if you’ve come up with a great outfit then keep wearing out, people will love to look at it again and again too.

6.       Never put textiles in the bin – you can recycle it, often councils will collect textiles, but even your local charity shops have regular textile waste collection.

7.       Try not to wear any manmade fibres.

8.       Repair your clothes and shoes. If you own nice, well made pieces then you will want to do this anyway as they tend to have much longer lifespans.

9.       I believe wool, hemp and linen are less impactful on the environment.

1.   Slow down fashion, by demanding this style of shopping again as consumers we can cause a response by the big companies.

Raku Weekend

I had the pleasure of a real hands on Raku session this weekend where I set fire to my two eggs here. They even exploded out of a bin, that was a bit hair raising. You mould the clay in the usual way and bisque fire it. Then you glaze the pots and apply any oxides (used inside the turquoise pot) and stick them in a special Raku kiln and heat them to 1000 degrees. This isn't so out of the ordinary. The next bit is the quirky bit. You open the kiln whilst red hot and grab them with tongs, waft them in the air and shove them into a bin full of sawdust/hair/newspaper (combustibles) which set on fire from the heat of the pot. The unglazed clay turns black and the shock of the rapid air cooling crackles the glaze which can create exciting and spontaneous effects.

*insert play on the word 'potty' here*

Beth Sprouts is back! Sort of. Creative outputs have been limited due to child rearing, so to escape I have made plates and small bowls. With help from http://www.potterybristol.co.uk/

It brings me such joy to run out of the house and stare at mud for three hours, no really.

Beth Sprouts Handmade; knit revolution

It may seem as though I have had a creative block. But, I have been keeping my fingers warm throughout winter by knitting like a crazy person. Wool feels gross in summer FYI. So I have knit up a vest, a cardigan, a large fluffy jumper, a crocheted granny square jumper, a mohair dress, a lilac hat, a thick cardigan and on the go is a grey hat, a top/vest, a mohair cardigan, a yellow crochet skirt.

Phew. They're talking knit revolution, here here! You can find so much on ebay or in charity shops. I mainly make up my own patterns and since I have a penchant for the boxy shapes this is really rather simple. Usually 4 of 5 rectangles sewn together-voila! 

Check out Wool And The Gang for some inspirational modern knitwear.

The joyful thing about yarn is that there is no waste.

I urge you to try, it is long winded but rewarding. If you can't hack tedious knits then choose a big fat needle and big fat yarn. Also, crochet is much more forgiving for beginners.

You might live for now, but it might not be your fulfilment.

Beth Sprouts Pondering; guzzle guzzle guzzle

It does strike me as extremely worrying that with a rapidly increasing world population and temperature rises looming (so assuming less farmland available), that it is accepted that meat, clothing and general food should be getting cheaper and cheaper and that each individual has the right to a never ending supply. 

I am pretty sure that with more people, stuff should be harder to come buy. Should we not be rationing? Should we not be buying direct to skip the corporation who will subsidise our greed and increase debts elsewhere. Perhaps try and keep our hard earned individual wealth out of the hands of big business, government and the national debt etc. Keep your money passing locally. Have a meat roast once a month, or less.

It is hard. Everything is so distracting, sales, offers, advertising. If you think you have been using your free will then think again, even if you are trying.

Learn crafts, how to cook, how to sew and repair, how to grow veg in pots, CYCLE. Take your self away from the shops and magazines - you are being dictated to and losing your choice. 

Think first. Buy less. Source better. Keep trying I guess.