Extreme Craft

Oh Say Can You "C"?

The C word is misunderstood.

The C word is a work of art.

The C word is cutting edge.

The C word is passed down from generation to generation.

The C word is desireable

The C word is unique.

I'm fairly bursting with things to share with you that I didn't get to post on Extreme Craft during my unintended hiatus.  At the top of the list is writing about a campaign by craftscotland, an outgrowth of the Scottish Arts Council.

This one minute short is just one of the efforts by craftscotland's new CEO, Emma Walker, to build awareness of craft in Scotland.  The spicy ad campaign, entitled "The C Word" has been rapturously received by the public in the UK, as it has been spread through television airings, as a trailer before movies, and of course, virally.

They do things different in Scotland...at least craftscotland does.  Craftscotland is sneaking their message into as many places as possible, including placing Scottish craft onto movie sets, commercials and other unlikely (but highly visible) venues.  The organization understands that craft has a brilliant history in Scotland, but it also occupies a significant place in contemporary culture.  By calling the campaign "The C Word", craftscotland is commenting on the fact that until recently, many artists and craftspeople cringed when they heard the word.  In the United States, prominent museums and learning institutions dropped the name "craft" from their names, just when a major craft resurgence was brewing.  I would suspect that the term "craft" had similar associations in Scotland.

Just as gay rights activists reclaimed the "Q" word and African-Americans tried reclaiming the "N" word, craftscotland is bringing together generations of makers and a new generation of eco-conscious consumer, rallying them around "the C word".  I certainly didn't need a government organization to empower and legitimize me, but it's interesting to see the suits taking notice. 

I live in an area where handmade is more than a marketing ploy--it's a way of life.  People all over the world are discovering that the C word is above all....sexy.  

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I'm Sticking With You!

Extreme Craft Stickers are BACK!  I just got a new shipment in, and I'd love to send some to you.  If you'd like one of these 4" round vinyl stickers, just email me at garth (at) extremecraft.com with your mailing address, and I'll get some out to you.

You can also come visit me in person at the San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair.  I'll be manning the ReConstruct DVD booth on July 18th and 19th with my friend and co-host Jeanee Ledoux.  Stop by and say hello, and I'll stock you up with stickers!

Be. Excited. Be. Be. Excited.

Somehow, I missed all of the action surrounding Matt Jones' (aka Flickr user Moleitau) "Get Excited and Make Things" riff on the British "Keep Calm and Carry On".  In true Maker style, Jones posted his creation on Flickr and is allowing people to remix and print the poster under a Creative Commons license.  The folks at Jen Bekman's 20x200 promptly rolled out a benefit edition of posters to benefit Creative Commons.  As of this writing, the small sizes are sold out, but there are plenty of medium and large prints available.  I just invested in one for chez Extreme Craft.

LINK via 43folders

Appetite for Re-Construction

Are you there craft?  It's me, Garth.   I've been a neglectful blog dad for the past couple of weeks, and I'm trying to make up for it.  I want to do better than just buying a stuffed animal at the airport.

One of my proudest recent achievements is the past months is the release of the Re-Construct DVD, a project that I did with mega-crafter Jeanee Ledoux, author of Abode a la Mode, and Eyekiss Films.  Eyekiss is best known for their series of how-to turntable videos, DJ 101, and Re-Construct was born when Dave from Eyekiss and Jeanee hatched the idea of doing a "how-to" craft DVD that would be a viable alternative to all of the how-to books on the market.  I was honored to be selected as co-host of the DVD.  As you all know, I'm a big fan of crafting with reused and thrifted objects.  Re-Construct takes it to the next level.

Even though this thing looks like a million bucks, This DVD is a true independent, D.I.Y. project.  We're taking on the TV networks and publishing industry, and proving that there is an audience out there for fun projects like the ones we have to offer.  The DVD walks you through eleven projects clearly and methodically.  As longtime readers of Extreme Craft know, I can barely stick two postage stamps together, so I'm the bumbling co-host to Jeanee's cool, collected craft genius.  None of these projects require fancy equipment aside from some basic power tool.  Basically, if I can do these things, you can too.

You can order the Re-Construct DVD directly from Eyekiss Films.  If you've got a boutique or craft store, and you're interested in carrying the DVD, drop me a line.  I've got a copy of the DVD to give away to one lucky Extreme Craft reader.  Just email me at garth (at) extremecraft.com with a link to the most extreme example of extreme craft you can think of.  I'll accept entries through Wednesday, April 22nd. 

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The Handmade's Tale

Thursday, April 2nd is coming up soon!  My fine institution, College of the Redwoods, is sponsoring not one, but TWO screenings of Handmade Nation at the Accident Gallery in Eureka.  We just added a second screening due to the brewing excitement.  Filmmaker Faythe Levine will be in attendance at both screenings.  The making of Handmade Nation was a long and crazy ride involving 19,000 miles of travel on the highways and byways of D.I.Y. America.

I'm incredibly excited to see the final product.  After the Eureka screenings, I'll be driving Faythe up to the screenings in Portland at the Museum of Contemporary Craft.  Extreme Craft will be representing at a free 2 pm Saturday afternoon panel, where I'll be chatting with Susan Beal (West Coast Crafty, Susanstars), Jill Bliss (Blissen), Kate Bingaman-Burt (Obsessive Consumption), Betsy Greer (Craftivism) and Faythe Levine (Handmade Nation) on a panel moderated by Museum of Contemporary Craft curator Namita WIggers.

See you at the screenings....when I'm not there, you'll probably find me at Voodoo Doughnut!

Lynch Mob

There's a great, gaping hole in my knowledge of pop culture.  It's called "Twin Peaks".  The year that Twin Peaks hit television, I was a high school exchange student in Rheinbach, Germany.  I spent the year watching German soap operas (and when I was fortunate, racy late-night movies on RTL Plus).  While I was eating plum cake, the country I left behind was toasting each other with damn fine coffee and cherry pie, while dissecting the finer points of the Log Lady and speculating about Laura Palmer's killer. 

My dear wife made educating me about Twin Peaks a priority when we got married, so I've seen about half of the first season.  I have a feeling that the weird, poofy early-nineties vibe of Twin Peaks only serves to highlight its otherness.  You can celebrate the otherness of Twin Peaks by patronizing thegreatnorthern's Etsy shop, which is dedicated to all things Twin Peaks.  How can you spend another day without a Twin Peaks charm bracelet, some Laura Palmer earrings or a cherry pie cross stitch?

As a recently minted resident of the Pacific Northwest, I feel it's my sacred duty.  Whenever I grab a little extra time, I'll finish the first season!

LINK thanks Kate!

Last Call!!!!!

Are you one of the people who snoozed on the deadline for "1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse"?  After months of cataloging the many thousands of files that were submitted, I wanted to give you one last chance.  I'm accepting entries for the book through Friday, March 13th (yes....Friday the 13th).  I'm getting close to 1,000 images that I really love, but I would especially like to have more images in the paper, interiors/environments and mancraft/geekcraft categories. 

Feel free to submit in any category, though, and feel free to submit as many photos as you'd like.  Remember, I'm looking for an image size of at least 1450x1700 pixels.  Make sure you upload (or fax) a signed Grant of Rights form and upload an image list with the title and materials of each piece.

Check out some of the excellent projects that I've recently selected.  Clockwise from the upper left:  Judy Titche, Rezoom, Your Secret Admiral, Becky Stern, Tinkerbots, Alicia L. Woods and Raul Siro Ferreira.

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Blasted Plate!

Cat Merrick is a designer who lives in Brooklyn.  Like Sarah Cihat, she's out to rehabilitate the dishware of America, one plate at at a time.  Instead of spraying new glaze over thrift store plates, she takes a reductive approach.  As far as I can tell, Ms. Merrick is splattering some kind of varnish or resist over the existing plates, then sandblasting the everloving shit out of them.  After the sandblasting, she adds a new dinner-safe glaze over the top, and voila!  Instant entropy!  Your Grandma's blue-and-white china will never be the same.

LINK thanks JENN!

Buried in Recycling!

Once again, I'm sorry for the quietude on Extreme Craft!  I've had to hole up in my living room on my computer for the past weeks, sorting through all of the entries to the Creative Reuse book.  I'm incredibly grateful for the thousands and thousands of submissions that everybody sent in.  Here are but three of the nearly 300 images that I've selected so far.  First up is Athens, GA based artist Mary Engel.  I'm incredibly excited to have her in the book.  Her sculptures are like a tour through the seedy underbelly of American tchotchke market, incorporating all of those little porcelain figurines that are so easy to overlook into incredibly detailed 3D mosaic sculptures.  I got plenty of mosaic submissions, but nobody compares to Mary Engel.

Next up is Rüdiger Schlömer, a German artist that I've featured on Extreme Craft before.  His "ransom-note" remixed German soccer fan scarves were an easy yes for the "Art" section of the book.  There have been plenty of other projects that use the same glee in repurposing the original objects, which was the reason I originally wanted to do the project.  There's going to be incredible diversity in this book.

Next up is Sandy Drobny, who was also an easy pick for the book.  Her aprons are not only funny and incredibly well-crafted, but they're amazing pieces of art as well.  Check out the above piece, which includes rubber gloves and a repurposed tablecloth, but also an awkwardly typewritten (and hand-corrected) note from somebody to their cleaning lady.  Drobny was also an artist-in-residence at the San Francisco Recycling Center.  This hard-to-get residency was a perfect fit, yielding work like the one you see above.

The deadline for the book has passed.  If you flaked out or missed the call for entries, I'm quietly accepting work for the next few weeks while I sift through the entries.  I would especially love to get more entries with clothing, paper craft and geeky craft.  Go to www.creativereusebook.com for details.

I'm Gonna Chat You Up!

Sorry for the lack of posts, everyone!  I wound up getting more than 3500 pieces submitted for the book, which is incredibly exciting.  It also means that I'm slowly digging through the files and neglecting everything else in my life.  Thanks to everyone who submitted work (you can still sneak in a late submission if you email me). 

I'll be taking some time off tomorrow to host another installment of Etsy Shop Live!  If you missed it the first time 'round, you're in for a treat.  Log into Etsy tomorrow at 4 PM Eastern (1 PM Pacific) for the hootin'est, hollerin'est craft show in cyberspace.  I'll be showing off 20 of my most recent favorite things from Etsy.  We'll be looking at some holiday appropriate pieces (the time is now to order the "gimp" Valentine's Day card above), as well as geek jewelry, disturbing jewelry, and some other kinky things you can find on Etsy for Valentine's Day.

I've been thinking a lot about what the hot craft trend of 2009 is, and you might be surprised at the answer.  Join me tomorrow on Etsy Shop Live, and all will be revealed.

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