May 21, 2007

Trashlings: Toys from Trash


The Trashlings have landed.
And they made their first appearance at the Maker Faire this weekend.

We joined with the forces of Swap-O-Rama-Rama again, but this time, we had one mission (besides helping others sew their dreams out):

to reproduce Trashlings!!


"Greetings Earthlings! I come to you from planet Basura, where trash is class. On Earth, I would be dumped in the garbage, but on Basura, I’m a healthy Trashling. However, I will not allow my people to become landfill. I have come to your planet to reproduce. As the trash on Earth piles up, my family of Trashlings grows. So…let’s get it on!"

We've always saved our sewing scraps in giant bags, and now we have a use for it: Trashling guts! We used our heaping piles of scraps to give our trashlings life....other designers saved their scraps for us too, making all of the Trashling guts look so beautifully diverse! We remember the swap last year...so sad to see precious scraps in the trash.

Our workstation was set up like those build-a-something workshops in the malls, except ours was completely interactive, used recycled and donated materials, and allowed room for creativity. The people who made Trashlings all filled out the Trashling Family Album to let us know about their new friend. They also filled out a birth certificate (on recycled paper of course!). It was a splendid experience.

Meet some of the newest additions to the Trashlings family:


Squirm
"Hi! I like to play with my friend Battso. Thank you for making me Natasha!
P.S. My other friend is Pudggy!"

Pudggy
Age: 0 years

"Hi! I'm so excited to be here on Earth! I'm so new, I want to see
everything! My creator, Cassiel, will help me! Thank you! My best friend is Squirm (and Chopsticks!). I wish to learn your customs."

Hooty
Age: 100

Kaput
Age: 4
Creator: Maggie Hollingsworth

Sir Artur Conan Doyle
Likes: Meat, DIYing
Dislikes: George Bush
Made by Jake Renew

(sorry no photo...but please send one in! Sir Doyle was the finest starfish constructed from old board shorts.)

Shirley
She enjoys playing croquet and watching Woody Allen movies. She hopes to spend the summer bathing off the coast of St. Bards with spider monkeys.
(sorry no photo...but please send one in! Shirley was constructed from the top of an old green Urban Outfitters top, complete with polka dotted tentacles....divine!)

Lompet
Lompet swings upside down all day. It is a member of the flightless fowl, instead it hangs by its featherless tail and chirps for passerbys to give it a push.
(sorry no photo...but please send one in! Lompet was serged together and must have been the heaviest Trashling...the more trash guts, the better!)

Egor the Slug
Rainbow bootie
triangle eye
he likes donuts and ice cream
slug pirate clown
constructed carefully by Kristin

Rustler the Hustler
(sorry no photo...but please send one in! Rustler used to be a funky terry cloth snap button top, so the creator used the snap buttons to make Rustler easy to stuff and de-stuff...you could change it's guts at any time! Super creative!)

Ms. Garbage Spritely
created: 5/20/07 (though she is much older)
loves: flowers and flying
helped into this earlty existence by Valerie
(Valerie spent a crafy amount of time creating Ms. Spritely from old pantyhose. She did the "no sew" approach by twisting and gluing. The best part was the wings made from an old underwire bra! Valerie was so kind to leave homeygrown as Ms. Spritely's adoptive parents. We'll take care of her!)

Ms. Spritely relaxin on our grass!

Our Trashling family will continue to grow as long as scrap fabric is in abundance.

Keep posted for more bios of our new friends, as well as pictures from the fashion show and the folks that stopped by to sew with us. That's next time, folks.

Signing off.

May 8, 2007

Doin' it in the Park





We love Telegraph Ave., but this weekend, we took a detour just around the corner.

We set up on a sunny hill right next to the linoleum at Hip Hop in the Park at People's Park.






Each year, one of our homies graces the stage. This year, it was Secluded Journalists (Ayentee & Won Way). We remember it like it was yesterday when Forensic Science was up on there!



We love buildin' with like-minded folks.

Thanks for those of you who checked us out and felt what we're doing.