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| Down Under |
| "embroidery pr0n" |
| 2009-05-08 |
| It's craft - but not as we know it. Meg Mundell meets a group of "craftivists" who mix DIY with mischief-making. IT'S Monday night in a crowded Fitzroy bar and 60 people are bent fastidiously over their needlework. Despite the DJ's kooky tunes, nobody's dancing — they're all too engrossed in needlework. If you reckon threading a needle is tricky, try rustling up a miniature penis in silken yarn, or illustrating hot sex in metallic thread. It's fiddly work. Tonight is session two of Trashbag Rehab, a monthly craft evening that's not nearly as nasty as it sounds. The theme changes monthly, but this evening it's "embroidery porn". Rude scenarios have been traced onto recycled fabric, and the mostly female crowd is busy bringing them to life in thread. While stitching, they swap needlework tips, chit-chat and coloured yarns. These crafty DIY sessions are the brainchild of the Melbourne Craft Cartel, headed by Casey Jenkins and Rayna Fahey. Part of the "craftivist" movement — crafters with an activist bent — the duo has declared war on "nice, safe, cutesy" craft. "Everything we do aims to gently subvert the normal connotations of craft," says Jenkins. "The assumption about embroidery is that it's done by nice, polite women, and the assumption about porn is that it's just for crass men." Tonight aims to challenge that in a (literally) tongue-in-cheek way, "by showing that women also have a sexual appetite, and men are interested in making gentle decorative arts". It's also about having fun, she adds: "Kids get lots of opportunities to play, but adults don't." The atmosphere is friendly, full of humour rather than sleaze. Jenkins, who spent the week downloading internet porn images and tracing them onto paper, says she was very careful about the pictures she chose: "I made sure everyone involved was participating, and looking happy." Tonight's "pre-printed porn patterns" range from a topless 1930s damsel striking a modest pose, to some fairly graphic man-on-man action. Artist Poppy Seed, 26, squints critically at her sewn depiction of a "hand-job". "I rushed it a bit," she says, "I might unpick it and redo it in diamantes." Teacher Rahne Witarsito, 35, is sewing an oral-themed "wild-style" tapestry. "I've been engrossed for two hours," she says. "It lasts much longer than actual sex." She's never embroidered before, but she's a natural: "I'm really impressed by the delicacy of the artform." Last month's inaugural session drew a full house of avid stitchers who created handmade "fling-ups", textile representations of female genitalia. One third of the 60-odd participants were male, the youngest an eight-year-old boy accompanied by his mum. The fling-ups were later tossed over powerlines as a form of street art. "You see those sneakers hanging from powerlines — that's drug gangs marking out their territory," says Jenkins. "So we made (the fling-ups) to reclaim the streets for women." She's also on a mission to reclaim the c-word: "I find it offensive that it's considered an offensive word, when it signifies something wonderful, warm and delightful — something to be admired." Future workshops will cover "mancraft", handmade sex toys, and crocheted explosives (the cartel has declared a "jihad on shopping malls"). Jenkins also runs Art Jam, a communal art-making contest using recycled junk, soon to be filmed for TV; Fahey runs the website Radical Cross-stitch, and is currently exhibiting her work in Sweden. The cartel also stages illegal "flock 'n' flog" sessions — spontaneous craft markets in city centre alleyways — and once held a stall in Bourke Street Mall encouraging shoppers to make their own Christmas cards and gifts. "Craft is about DIY culture," says Jenkins. "By making things yourself, you're not beholden to big corporate structures. It's a way of bucking the system." At one table, three VCA art students have whipped up some impressive work. Textile artist Jade Venus, 24, loves the communal aspect of these gatherings: "It can be isolating spending all your time in the studio. It's nice to do a project as a group." Video and performance artist Hannah Raisin, 22, agrees: "Embroidery has that tradition of women sitting around together, having conversations." Andrea Vasarab, 24, says tonight's workshop is tamer than last month's vagina-making session: "Embroidery's so intricate, so everyone's concentrating hard." Last month, costume designer Hannah Cuthbertson, 25, left her vagina behind at the bar, but gained an unexpected bonus: a boyfriend. "This guy was sitting outside playing his guitar and singing. He was looking at my (creation) and we just hit it off, and now we're together." Her new beau, Simon Rashleigh, is hosting another curbside singalong tonight. Things get a little rowdy and the police turn up, but happily the officers leave placated, clutching a hand-crafted gift: a fetching pair of embroidered breasts. |
| Posted by:Classer |
| #19 " I'd like to see someone do Starry Night by Vincent Van Gough." Ask and ye shall receive. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-05-08 22:31 |
| #18 3dc, I have no doubt they are seriously raking in the dough. The designs still make me homicidal, though (they remind me of those stupid "Love Is" designs back in the 70's.....yecch!) Old Patriot, I bet that's a gorgeous pattern! I gotta dust off my PC Stitch and start running through some of my brother's pictures..... |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-05-08 21:16 |
| #17 Whoops! Pretend you can see that invisible t, kthx. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-05-08 21:04 |
| #16 The things Ranburgers get up to, when they aren't writing cogent analyses and clever snarks! Happy needling, y'all! |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-05-08 21:03 |
| #15 ditto. |
| Posted by: Thor Hupeaque2689 2009-05-08 21:01 |
| #14 I'd like to see someone do Starry Night by Vincent Van Gough. |
| Posted by: Neville Ulolusing8219 2009-05-08 20:52 |
| #13 Sea, contact me and I'll try to send you a couple of my patterns. They are DEFINITELY not "sappy". A few are created from scenes I took in Germany during one of my three tours there. Most were designed using "Pattern Maker" software. The most intricate is one of the "Church in the Rock, from Idar-Oberstein, Germany (14x20, 14-count). |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-05-08 20:31 |
| #12 Cornsilk Blondie - a friends wife was the chief designer/developer for Precious Moments. Went to their wedding and never saw them again. They were both oldest children of major Hong Kong family combines. I think he was from Jewelry or Clothes and I don't remember what she was. Wedding was at the Seafood Restaurant in Chicago's China town next to I-57 or 55 (It's a decade ago I forget.) more booze then you could ever drink. I think it was a 20 course dinner - 2 or 3 with whole lobsters. About 500+ guests at the dinner. Entertainment included break dancers from another ethnic group care of a loving alderman.... Both drove new Lexus to the wedding... (that the gave each other)... Rings were.... yeah... Food was A* |
| Posted by: 3dc 2009-05-08 20:19 |
| #11 "as a member of the Crafter-American community" oh sure, another oppressed minority :-) |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-05-08 18:52 |
| #10 Sea and TW, I hear ya. If I get offered one more damn Precious Moments pattern, something is gonna die, horribly. (Don't know how detailed you ladies wanna get, but you might want to check out Scarlet Quince for some incredible patterns based on classical artworks...I've also had some luck on eBay, too, believe it or not. But I'm moving towards adapting political posters on my own lately. Somehow Soviet-era ones seem strangely appropriate for some reason....with a little modification, of course.....and I'm sure that Mr Fairey won't like what I did with his "O" sign one either, but c'est la vie.) |
| Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie 2009-05-08 18:03 |
| #9 Sgt. Mom - was "snappy" comments a pun? |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2009-05-08 15:43 |
| #8 Needlework is a relaxation form, much like the putatively more masculine woodcarving. I agree, it's gone awfully cutesy in recent years -- there used to be a lot more available in the way of medieval tapestry and art nouveau designs. Of course, neither is suitable for beginners or a quick evening project. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-05-08 13:36 |
| #7 oh, so THESE are the folks who came up with that crocheted grenade cozy i saw on What Not To Crochet Blog... |
| Posted by: Querent 2009-05-08 13:01 |
| #6 There is almost certainly more than one scarf floating around with Rove, Yoo, Ashcroft, Bolton, Bolten, etc. stitched in... |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-05-08 11:28 |
| #5 We should have known this was coming, when knitting became a hipster fad. It couldn't stay ironic for long without reverting to hedonistic norms. |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-05-08 11:15 |
| #4 Sorry, I just boggled at this absolutely priceless line: "...costume designer Hannah Cuthbertson, 25, left her vagina behind at the bar..." I swear, the snappy comments just write themselves. |
| Posted by: Sgt. Mom 2009-05-08 09:54 |
| #3 Actually, as a member of the Crafter-American community, I approve of this Resistance. The embroidery/cross-stitch universe has contracted in recent years to a ridiculous tyranny of Precious Moments, sappy scripture verses, noble wolves' eyes, and (wait for it) Thomas Kincade, Painter of Light. Plus endless lines of country kitschy geese with bows on their necks marching across every possible embroiderable kitchen surface. It is a real Struggle to find fun projects that break away from the aforementioned mold, and I'm glad they're trying. I don't love the subject matter, but really. Enough with the "Home Sweet Home" already. We're grownups! |
| Posted by: Seafarious 2009-05-08 09:26 |
| #2 If they really cared about humanity, they'd be making clothes for poor folks or victims of weather disasters or such, instead of attempting to deal with their adolescent dysfunctions and their insecure need for attention in some useless fashion. A too-affluent society, with too much time on their hands. No 'corporate structure' could be more ridiculous or useless than these folks. |
| Posted by: no mo uro 2009-05-08 06:06 |
| #1 "Craft is about DIY culture," says Jenkins. "By making things yourself, you're not beholden to big corporate structures. It's a way of bucking the system." No it's a lady's sewing circle, you demented git. I swear to God some people can't even open their mouths without the words "big corporate structures" coming out. |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-05-08 03:41 |