Sidewayz Daze at the Elbo Room

Our homey Xien How threw a show at the Elbo Room in SF. With Eligh as the headliner, and hella homies opening up, you know it was freshhhhh!

We set up shop on a POOL TABLE and killed time by having an apron photo shoot. Fun times!

Longest day of the year...

At the Greenhouse...where we grow.

The more light there is, the more creative we get...

We've been hard at work making new designs for the summer. We won't unleash them just yet...but if you come to the Eligh Show at the Elbo Room this Saturday, you might see just a few of them.

We have a new work space, "The Greenhouse" (aka Stormz casa) where we burn all of our screens.

Since it's also Mercury retrograde, let us reflect on our past.

We won't forget where we came from, and what we've learned along the way. Here is a brief history of where we've created screens and printed in the past:

- Over's bathroom and bedroom floor, where it all began

- Tiph's backyard and garage

- Davao, Philippines

- Charity and Ezra's studio

- Lobot Gallery with RPS

- Wesley St. by the Lake

- Our shop, of course

on Wesley St, our old studio.

We want this list to grow with more peoples and places!!

Swap-O-Rama-Rama at Maker Faire

What a fun time of the year!



We had so much fun at the Swap-O-Rama-Rama last year, we couldn't wait until this one came around. This time, we didn't have to bring our own machines because Janome supplied some, although I brought my serger (it's no fun without one). I even went home with a Janome, and about two bags of scraps!


(Rockez with our new machine)

We saw new and old faces. Heather helped Wendy out this year and was totally accomodating to our sewing needs. We set up our Trashlings next to Christine, a familiar face from our Spring Swap Not Shop. And of course, Remade in America screened for the masses. Too bad we didn't get anything screened for ourselves, although we got to rummage through a huge bag of scraps from them and Patchwerk Press.

We will always take your trash!



(Tiph fixing our Trashling station)

So besides creating Trashlings, folks came by with creative sewing ideas, which we helped make into reality. Look at what some of these people made:



A tube top from a skirt...I swear we helped her out last year!



She don't need a sewing machine...just hot glue!
Peep the can tabs and bread tabs she glued on from our collection!

And this is the most creative reuse of a bra:

She has never sewn before, yet volunteered for the event and worked so diligently to make that top! The lacey sleeves used to be the cups of an old grandma bra, and the lacey detail in the middle came from the same bra. Genius!

Next: creative reuse of those dreadful things....SHOULDER PADS!

This was just ONE of the lovely things she made. She used old shoulderpads to make ears for this funky hat. Hot glue and lots of random thingies made this hat TOTALLY zany!


So zany, that Jada wanted one too! (as well as a pom-pom bra!)

Another highlight was seeing the same mommy and daughter that I helped out last year. The last swap was the first time mom ever touched a sewing machine, so it was good to see her back and sewing more for her daughter!

Although the swap was spectacular, the downside was that we were so busy swapping and sewing that we didn't have a chance to explore the faire! Just walking through the faire to get to the swap stimulated our minds. I loved the giant nosepicker with the hamster wheel (Jada picked the nose!) and the city scape van. Good thing we sent out our agents Stormz, Kev, and Jada to explore and report back to us.

Peep the next posting for pictures from the fashion show.
We'll post last years photos eventually, just to be nostalgic!

Love, Tiph "Artiffact"

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.

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.

You like my jacket? I got it at the swap.

Swap Not Shop
Spring Clothing Swap

Our biannual Swap Not Shop was held at the legendary Soundwave Studios.
Famous and up and coming bands have used the same room where we held our swap.
Many thanks to Al for allowing us to use the space for something other than music!



Overall, about 30 people showed up, men and women, and although we would have liked a better turn-out, we had PLENTY of clothes and other things to swap.

We had to resist our urges of pre-swapping and wait for the "Let the Swap Begin" signal. It was tempting to stand around before the swap and just look at what you can't touch. Some of us broke that rule...but it's ok because we worked hard for it!
Then once the swap began, the ladies' table turned into a competive chaos...



While the guys just chilled and swapped with patience.



We used beer and wine as bait, but perhaps people don't get down with a keg and blood rain sangria on Thursday nights.



We're hella dorky to have an unfinished keg!

People were feeling generous by leaving grapes in the tip jar.





Who brought their underwear to swap?? We can understand bras, but UNDERWEAR? Where did the underwear go? Hopefully someone threw them away...otherwise you'll see them listed on ebay.

the only shirt that chris picked out, with his lucky number 26



in that huge bag is a fly ass leather jacket. good find!



We kept things fun by holding a Fugly: We’re Bringing Ugly Back Fashion Show. We found the fugliest things we can find and made it look good. For some reason, we ended up looking like gangsta grandmas. It was an unspoken agreement that fugly equals gangsta grannies. To wear grandma clothes separately, or gangsta separately, isn't fugly, but when you put them together, it's hella fugly!





MC Killa Stormz gets fugly too.....



Chrystine from TinaAndrina joined in on the fun.


G-Ma Rockill with a red cup in hand...



Melissa, making fugly look GOOD!



Thank you to everyone that came out and swapped with us. We might even be wearing each other's pants. Don't worry, I washed mine.

If you have a story to share, please leave a comment. We will hold another Swap Not Shop in the Fall, with more fun, with perhaps even a sewing station!
On the front page of our website, let us know what your favorite thing is that you swapped.

And mark your calendars, May 19 & 20 will be the HUGE Swap-o-Rama-Rama Event at the Maker Faire, held at the San Mateo County Fairgrounds.

P.S. to the girl with the royal blue underwear, thanks so much for coming!

Directions to the Swap

The swap will be held at Soundwave Studios in West Oakland. It's sort of tricky to get there as the spot is right under the free way.

click to see the directions!





2200 Wood Street, Oakland

From Berkeley:

1. Take 580 East toward SF.
2. Merge on 880 South towards Alameda/San Jose.
3. Exit West Grand Avenue towards 7th Street.
4. Left on West Grand.
5. Make a U-Turn at Campbell Street (1st street) back onto West Grand.
(You basically want to get onto the street on the side of the overpass).
6. Turn Right on Wood Street.
7. We are on the Right hand side. Park and see our door directly on Wood Street. Do not go into Soundwave Studios through the parking lot. Follow the signs if you need to.

From Oakland:
1. Take 880 North.
2. Exit 7th Street/West Grand.
3. Right on West Grand.
4. Make a U-Turn at Campbell Street (1st street) back onto West Grand.
(You basically want to get onto the street on the side of the overpass).
5. Turn Right on Wood Street.
6. We are on the Right hand side. Park and see our door directly on Wood Street. Do not go into Soundwave Studios through the parking lot. Follow the signs if you need to.

Hope to see you there!

Re: Fashion Show

if you can't make it to the swap, drop some clothes off to the shop and we'll bring them over for you!

to the girl with the royal blue underwear

hi, you might remember me from today at the flea market. you were wearing royal blue underwear underneath your short dress/long shirt. i know this because when you bent over to look at those moth-eaten sweaters, you showed everyone. you could kinda almost see it when you were standing, too. it was really hot today, so i understand.

anyways, i really hope you can come to the clothing swap. we need people like you to swap clothing with. we need people who care about their underwear enough to show it off, because we print underwear too! (just don't bring your chonies to the swap).

tell all your friends too!

plant.feed.flourish.

i planted some rosemary a few weeks ago. i hope it sprouts soon. i've been feeding it every other day of so, since i'm not always at the shop. there's already a rosemary bush outside of our spot, but we should have our own plant. then we'll be able to make rosemary oil, scrubs, and maybe even rosemary bread.

-artiffact