Hi Folks !
I am now offering limited de-cluttering services.
Overwhelmed by clutter?
Can’t decide what to keep and when to let go?
Need to tidy but don’t know how to start?
Hire me!
Together we can de-clutter:
Closets
Personal Environments
Storage Spaces
Memorabilia
Work Stations
and more!
Dm me directly or fill out the form in my profile.
I can provide more information about scope, costs & availability.
Thanks friends!
Katie
The Talking Mirror, a reader supported subscription advice column is now open to subscribers on a rolling basis.
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#advicecolumn #mailart #snailmail #zine #zines #riso #risograph #selfhelp #oracle #artistmotherco
Full catastrophe living
Rearranged basement gave myself a studio I love it but there’s mattress on my work table which is a ping pong table because we still have to run to the dump and throw away three hundred other things including art from high school all because our basement flooded 4+ inches which is why P and I installed a makeshift sump pump and I found this cool hat I should’ve bought for $15 at home d epot among other disasters. Went to Toronto with my sister and kids fucking loved it. New zine out soon stay tuned.
On this Labor Day and everyday I want to direct your attention to the glaringly obvious global class disparity that wreaks havoc on all earthly systems human and non-human. God Bless the working class forever and ever.
Take time, this Labor Day and always, to reevaluate your understanding of how workers make your world go round : providing food, shelter, care, transportation, healthcare, sanitation, products, repairs and so much more, rarely for a fair wage.
Do you make money off the underpaid? Do you pay workers to do your work for you, yet make more than they do? Do you have stock in companies that profit off the backs of underpaid workers? Are you a constant consumer blindly participating in cheap, fast shopping culture? Ask yourself, would you work for x,y,z an hour? Would you work in x,y,z conditions? Labor Day exists to honor the working class, and asks all of us to do our part in changing culture toward a more equitable, just, creative, collaborative world.
For the grid, photos of things I made or repaired rather than buying new. Labor is a gift, the stuff of life! Work is righteous and beautiful!
Here is a showcase of all the pants I have made and still own and wear daily.
Patterns include : (in order)
@sewliberated #arthurpants
Elastic pants from Simple Modern Sewing
@annaallenclothing #persephonepants
@annaallenclothing #helenejeans
@sewliberated #otisoveralls
@helens__closet #rubyoveralls
Additionally I’m wearing @caramiyamaui #tatecrop and some self drafted undies.
I hope you enjoy watching my dog watch me awkwardly model my wardrobe!
Always chipping away at projects and wondering what my world would feel like if I wasn’t. Like, more ease? More rest? More soft-mind? It is so so difficult for me to stop making things, or stop thinking about making things. Which isn’t to say I’m trying to change, only wondering if I could.
I’m making a batch of underwear from knit scraps and they are turning out nice. I love the way zigzag stitch looks on knit, which is a less popular opinion among refined sewers I think. It reminds me of scuba gear and punk diy in tandem. I finally finished a hat I spent all winter knitting, so it goes, and I’m on to an easy, chunky sweater I am hacking into a cardigan. All the yarn is second-hand. I scored a huge bag of lamb’s pride bulky from Poshmark for a song.I think I will take the summer off from sewing, so I’m planning the last few projects I want to make, gods willing.
Be well friends and strangers and keep your eyes on the process. There is so much junk, so much waste and also so much possibility as to how we can refashion what was done not very well at all into something strong, useful, beautiful. It takes elbow grease and creative thinking, but isn’t that where the fun is?
I think next autumn I want to start a sewing club. Thoughts?
Today I am thinking about things, actual objects and also processes, that have value far greater than their market worth. I’m thinking about creativity as an open resource, life at home, and making do.
Our oven heat element broke a few weeks ago and I fixed it. We bought the electric stove for $45 six years ago, it’s at least 30 years old. The replacement part cost $75 and about twenty minutes to fix. It’s a simple little stove, maybe not worth fixing but certainly not ready for the dump. We use it everyday, all day. I’m making another pair of ‘jeans’ in some second-hand twill and after seeing patchwork double-knees on another sewing account I decided to try this for myself. They will be truly custom, truly one of a kind pants fit perfectly to my body.
I finished A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, and wrote about it in my book notebook. I love the crunchy sounds of the inked up pages when they turn. Documenting works on paper, so much more satisfying than some app.
I don’t like buying new things. I am far behind the times. Still, does it matter? We do what we do, the way we do it. I am deeply satisfied, I long for almost nothing.
Reprint of * The Home Artist’s Guide to Building a Project * , a manual and manifesto petitioning busy parents and working class folks to make a practice making art, now in the shop. New cover, new illustrations, all the same content.
I specifically wrote this zine with working class people in mind, but the book is for anyone who is looking for something, longs for something, needs a shift. Making art is a cross-cultural life way, necessary, in my opinion, for the good health of the self, community, and our world at large.
Working on the cover for a reprint of The Home-Artist’s Guide to Building a Project. First printed in 2023, this zine is a manifesto and manual for home-makers, day-laborers and uninspired product makers to make DIY self-satisfying masterpieces. Reprint coming soon!
I’ve found that making collage covers and scanning them directly to my RISO is, well, more satisfying than making digital art. Back to the basics !
It’s a Christmas miracle! I made jeans! Not only did I make jeans but I took the time to fit them to my body. It feels so good to wear jeans made just for me and fit my vision of myself : rural, romantic and hardworking. Also a bit historical, like the girls A League of Their Own or Idgie from Fried Green Tomatoes.
I made these jeans using the @annaallenclothing #helenejeans sewing pattern. I purchased 11 oz denim from @stonemountainfabric for like $17 a yard. I think this project took just under 2 yards. I tried to make this pattern a little over a year ago in a size 0 and found the rise to be too short which caused the waist to gape, meanwhile the bum was really baggy. For this pair I utilized the #topdowncenterout method to fit the jeans to my body shape. I used a 00 crotch and 0 everywhere else adding almost an inch to the front and back rise and adjusting the side seams out by about 1/4”. I also used @evan.ihde rectangle zipper fly method which I love!!!
If I were to make this pattern again I would take in the center back just a smidge. I’d also use a different topstitching thread or something; even though I worked slow and steady I struggled a lot with topstitching and had to use my seam ripper more than I want to admit. Thank you to my friend @okchelseahilton for giving me your old Janome! Having a better machine made it so much easier to finish this project.
Phew! Glad these are done! Onward to something slightly less challenging.
**** n e w * z I n e ****
After a year sabbatical from making art I have a new zine available for order. Private Thoughts is my published diary, written during my summer off from June-August 2024. My most personal project in years, this writing is a close look at obsessive, project-based thinking in the context of motherhood. For sale on a sliding scale in my web shop, in profile.
