Brooklyn Community Market this Saturday

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Elf Bags updated

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The range of Elf Bags has now been properly updated in the gallery, prices included. Get in touch if you'd like to say goodbye to wasting gift wrapping paper!

Refusing a Rubbish Xmas

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Earlier this week I attended a very timely workshop on how to reduce waste over the holiday period. The astonishing statistics that I took out of that are sourced from Recycle:

• On average, Kiwis throw away 30% more rubbish over the summer holiday period than usual. 
• The waste we generate just about doubles the week after Christmas.
• An extra 50,000 Tonnes of waste is likely to be produced during the Christmas week. 
• A 20-foot container is able to hold on average 3.5 tonnes of waste (50,000/3.5 = 14,285.7 containers).
• With each container standing 2.4m tall, stacked on top of one another, this would be equivalent to 105 times taller than the Sky Tower.
• This means the amount of extra waste generated the week after Christmas in NZ is equivalent to more than 14,000 20-foot containers stacked on top of each other, 105 times taller than the Sky Tower!!

The workshop hosts, Hannah and Liam of the Rubbish Trip effort, kindly invited me to talk about Elf Bags.  The event took place at Sustainability Trust, and I walked around the shop to find bits and pieces to gift bag as exemplars: bokashi bucket set, gardening tools, rat trap.  The walking and looking part took far longer than the bagging part.  I'm glad I wasn't talking about some upcycled, hand-made wrapping paper.  Nothing wrong with that idea, but gift wrapping those oddly shaped items would have been a pain.

Hannah and Liam are giving two more talks in Wellington before they take off on their South Island Rubbish Trip for another six months.

Custom Elf Bags

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If you have some fabric you're particularly fond of, I'm happy to sew custom Elf Bags for you.  Elf Bags are an alternative to gift wrapping, so they will most likely be used only for birthdays and other gift-centered celebrations, and with good care, should last for generations. That's generations of not forking out on wrapping paper every year. You might need to wash an Elf Bag once a decade or so, which means that precious fabrics of high sentimental value but little practical application are perfect for this purpose.

Oh look, a decorative snowflake. I make those, too.

Perhaps you have your old baby blanket that will never snuggle another baby, but it's a shame to feed it to the moths in the attic.

Maybe your kids have grown out of their cutesy dinosaur curtains, and the curtain edges are too sun-faded, and they are too old to give away, but you want to hold on to the fond memories of curtain peekaboos and infectious giggles, and it's fun to test the progeny's knowledge of Dracorexes vs Eoraptors when the are twenty. 

You might have some hideous holiday shirts that are too offensive to wear, but their nostalgia value is phenomenal.

How about those neat decorations for your custom Elf Bag?

There's that psychedelic tea towel that your, now deceased, uncle gave you ten years ago.  You never actually used it, but it seems disrespectful to take it to a charity store.  Show your relatives that you cherish the memory of your eccentric uncle by transforming the towel into a gift bag to sit under the family Christmas tree.

How about your grandma's selection of novelty scarves?

That Christmas table cloth that got a massive hole burned in it by a rogue firework that your inebriated cousin let off last year? Grandpa was not impressed.  Only a third of the table cloth is completely wrecked.  The other two-thirds, made into Elf Bags, will remind your family about the fireworks incident.  That might keep the cousin from drinking too much this year, and Grandpa can find someone else to swear at.

An Elf Bag can have a family story to tell. A funny story or a really weird one; and every year, when the gifts are bagged under the tree, the stories are retold and new tales join the family history.

Santa has a big sack. It's full of naughty children who accept sweets from bearded strangers in eccentric attire.

If you need some inspiration, have a look in the gallery for examples of ready made Elf Bags.

Elf Bags at the Brooklyn Christmas Market

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Elf Bags

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Elf Bags are an infinitely reusable alternative to gift wrapping. They are perfect for family celebrations, to be reused every year. They can be a gift in themselves, for a friend, with a gift inside, even! That's a double-gift! Your friend can then regift the bag as a gift to someone else or use it for their own family Christmas as a non-gift.  That's a lot of gifting.

Elf Bags are full of happiness

Several years ago I decided to do away with gift wrapping, and instead, started sewing festive bags for our family Christmas merriment.

The idea, which I'm sure originates a long long time ago, in a place far far away, was introduced to me by my mother in law.  She'd sewed a stack of reusable gift bags from some in-your-face Christmas fabric that was sold dirt cheap after the holiday.  The textile made my eyes sore.  With a pained grimace on my face I walked into Spotlight and found some vaguely non-hideous Christmas fabric. I sewed a pile of gift bags. And that's how it happened.  No more mountains of ripped wrapping paper and bits of sticky tape stuck to the cat's behind. Finally I would no longer anxiously linger by the plastic tree, trying to salvage whatever paper was somewhat intact, while everyone else helped themselves to pudding. Instead, the cloth bags would get folded and stashed away with all the decorations, for more gifting next year.

Our family gift bags prop up Christmas trees every year

As with all expanding families, every year we'd find ourselves making more presents and needing more bags. Every year I've been sewing more, with a sneaking suspicion that a family member or two likes to keep their gift bag, instead of returning it.

Last week, on RNZ National, Jesse Mulligan got all the treehuggers to crawl out of their burlap sacks to frantically send in their ideas for alternatives to non-recyclable shiny gift wrap.  Apparently lots of people use it, and many of them contaminate their recycling with it. I emerged from my black burlap sack to email Jesse a photo of my gift bags, and he responded with enthusiasm and a suggestion that I turn this idea into a business. Thanks Jesse, I am acting on your wisdom and turning my house into some sort of a sweat shop to create Elf Bags.

Elf Bags come in a variety of sizes, fabric types and textile designs.  The sizes are loosely grouped into Small, Medium and Large, and there are a few narrow, long bags also. Someone told me they are good for wine bottles.

Would you like an Elf Bag? No, you would like a large stack of Elf Bags. That's excellent! It's too close to Christmas to be retailing them online this year, but I will be selling them at the Brooklyn Christmas market on Saturday, December 9th.  Alternatively, you're welcome to browse the Elf Bag gallery and get in touch to let me know which bags you'd like to collect from me. I can also post them to you, if it can arrive before the gifting obligations.  I will keep adding photos to the gallery over the next few days and weeks.

The kinds of things you can Elf Bag

Christmas Gift Making

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I wonder if I was a Santa Elf in one of my previous lives...

It's nearly time for some keen folks' mid year Christmas, so probably about time for the 2013 Christmas gift making round-up.  For someone who is a fist shaking festive grinch, I sure do put a lot of effort into designing and making gifts for family.  It the only way I can think of to turn something I loathe, which is shopping for gifts into an enjoyable experience, which is creating something in my personal sweatshop - *ahem* - workroom.

Last festive gifting involved printing some photo books, making some food and the usual sewing and toy making.  There seems to be an emerging theme of DIY toys, clothes, food and photography.

Hardwood play alphabet

Merino beanie with a plywood polar bear brooch

Silk "Kanzashi" style brooch upcycled from an old tie, courtesy of Kimono Reincarnate's tutorial

I should be about the last person in the western world to want to do this, but I even sewed a holiday outfit for my daughter.  Red and white happen to be her colours, and my weakness for elephants compelled me to buy elephant print cotton

Cotton shirred sun dress and sunhat and merino slouch cardigan

The only small pohutukawa tree we could find for a photo

Craft2.0 photos

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The fair last weekend was lovely.  Seemed like everyone who came was very happy and chatty.  Always makes the day go faster.

Stephanie Cahorel Ceramics

Firecracker Studio

Dustys and Lulu

Little astronauts - made my day!

Craft2.0 Interview 2013

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From the Craft2.0 blog.

Tell us what you make.  Eco-friendly, colour-averse jewellery and accessories and homewares that are laser cut from salvaged materials. I also sew screen printed bibs. 

What element of your craft do you feel most passionate about?  My philosophy of environmental responsibility is integral to all of my making endeavours. I always look for scrap materials to work with.

Cutting from scraps

What makes you different from other makers? i.e: Your focus on detail or your wide variety of procucts; your skill-set or materials; your love of colour or use of a monochromatic palate. Expand and tell us a little more.  Everything I create involves in its process a step of digital fabrication, mostly in form of laser cutting, but even my printing screens are made digitally. In that way I consider myself more of a designer than a crafter, even though I assemble all products myself.  Much of my focus is on creating memorable, quirky human and animal characters. The whimsical and slightly macabre aesthetic reflects the characters’ tongue in cheek personalities.  The very limited colour palette is a Chromatophobic signature. The red, black and white often attract people wearing those colours.

Psychotic Santa assembly

Why do you craft or create and how does this affect your lifestyle?  Whenever I need something, anything; my first thought is “how do I make it”. Often it takes me a while to work out that it’s a lot more cost effective to buy the item in question, but not before the design cogs in my brain hyperactively spring into motion. This maker attitude underpins everything I do and the way I view the world.

How does your creative process start and where does it end? What detours happen along the way?

There’s no start and no clear finish. My creative process is like a spider web: both functionally, in the way ideas are captured and digested and aesthetically as the spooky factor in my work.

Inspiration doodling

How has running your own business changed you? What is something you've learned along the way that has helped you in particular?  Even though it’s a miniature scale enterprise, I put a lot of effort into thorough record keeping of all production and stock. That way I don’t have to rummage through everything to determine whether an item is available. 

Flatpack polyprop tabletop trees

Tea or Coffee? Both, though coffee if I’m out.

Craft2.0 Xmas 2013 Edition

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"The merriest market of the season will be held 7th December, Undercover in the Atrium at Chaffers Dock Building, 22 Herd Street, Wellington.  Opening hours will be 10am-3pm."

Not your usual lame Christmas shopping.

Quite exciting really!

Christmas Gifts

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It's been utterly mental, hence the quiet.  However, I've added some fun Christmas themed listings to my online stores: Felt, Etsy, Storenvy. 

strong-as tabletop trees that pack flack

sets of six snowflake decorations

Psychotic Santa pendants

'71 MGB Race Car Clock

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The making of an analogue time piece.

A bit over a year ago we rather ambitiously went on a frenzied but rewarding mission making everyone's Christmas presents.  I managed to document some of the projects in a timely manner, but lost steam half way through, letting the process photos gather the digital equivalent of dust and cobwebs.  Perhaps, it's time to unearth another one of those undertakings.

One gift I didn’t have to think hard about for a clock for my other half.  Well, there was a lot of thinking involved, but that involved resolving the design details as opposed to coming up with the concept.  We have a garage/workshop, which is my husband’s greasy second home.  He didn’t have a clock and couldn’t get his phone out of his pocket with filthy hands to check the time, so there were frequent issues with punctuality, especially around dinner time.  I set out to resolve this persistent concern with something of design significance to this wonderful man: his 1971 MGB race car.

MGB in action.  Photo taken by some race meeting photographer

I had the design finalised by mid November and cut the first prototype.  I gleefully patted myself on the back for being so organised with the whole Christmas whatsitnow.  The plywood clock face had the design engraved into it, and then the design was cut separately out of card and inlaid into the wood recess.  It worked perfectly, so I sent the files to the fabricator to have the inlay components cut out of brass.  After not hearing back from them for a few weeks, I got slightly anxious and called them, only to be told that they couldn’t cut brass and that they had emailed me about the issue.  The email must have been eaten by the internets because I never received it.  I really wanted the vintage look of brass, but by then it was too late to find another fabricator, so I made the decision to use stainless steel instead.  At least that would match the chrome of the car.

Plywood and card mock up.  The card pieces fit perfectly into the laser engraving in the plywood

I firmly decided to avoid a last minute mad making panic A La Design School, so I forcefully crossed my fingers in hope of getting my parts back on time.  I couldn’t work on any other components until the metal parts arrived, so when I was told ten days before the deadline that my files were unreadable (despite being especially converted for industrial CAD cutters), I developed a persistent twitch to accompany my morning sickness.  What followed was a series of phone conversations with the fabricator where I had to convince them that the design was to be cut exactly as specified – I’d already prototyped it, and it worked, and no extra bridges were needed.  Yes, yes Cut As Is, Please I Know What I'm Doing scenario.

Finally, on the 21^st of December, at the end of the work day, I had the parts personally delivered by the lovely factory manager.  I gave him tasty jam to say "thank you".  

Thank You jam

I spent the next morning frantically and painstakingly grinding off the unavoidable bridges between the laser piercing points to get my parts out of the unyielding sheet.  I wished I had a Dremmel and not a gutless little rotary tool.  Anyone who’s worked with stainless steel is familiar with its pervasive attribute for eliciting coarse language.  After much swearing, sweating and bleeding I had all the metal bits separated and laid out.  Fortunately, the parts turned out about 95% accurate to the design, which meant only minor tweaking of the original drawing to get the engraving of the clock face identical to the unchangeable stainless components.

Grinding off waste material

Steel parts ready for cleaning

Next came the inlay prep work.  Firstly, when you laser cut wood, you can't just grab the cut part and expect it to be good enough for a product.  I see those examples in the market place all the time, and it bugs the hell out of me.   A laser beams is basically a very concentrated fire.  It burns.  Intensely.  People seem to be surprised by that.  The heat causes charring on the material surface, in the direction of the pull of the extraction.  Quite a bit of sanding is required to tidy up the laser cut parts.

Sanding the clock  face

After all that grind, it was time for some serious effort to inlay the springy, shiny steel parts into the engraving without making a mess.  Getting the intricate MG cut-out to stay flat was remarkably difficult and incredibly frustrating.

Gluing in the metal parts

Oh the terrible glue mess!

Painstaking sanding the glue off the plywood without scratching the metal

Tidied inlay

Next step is sealing the clock to make sure that the wood lasts well.  I  decided on a spray lacquer.  Unfortunately I couldn't get into a ventilated paint booth, so had to do the spraying outdoors, at the mercy of Wellington wind.

Deciding between a wax and a lacquer.  Wax and metal should have been quite obviously a dumb idea.

Spray lacquering in a mostly sheltered alleyway.  The back clock panel is thick enough to accommodate the mechanism

I was on the receiving end of some suspicious looks from people who must have mistaken me for a tagging delinquent.  Several lacquer coats later the clock face was ready for its pointy hands.  I bought a cheap clock mechanism and swapped its paper thin aluminium hands for my custom cut ones.  Two days before Christmas the clock was finally complete and ready to be packaged into an insanely beautiful box made from some cardboard scrap.  

Nothing beats a brown cardboard box

Leather MGB gift tag

The clock has been a functional workshop feature ever since.