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| my SCRAP finds this week |
Oh hey thesis!
This week I installed a skill exchange bulletin board in the grad design studio at CCA. This bulletin board is where I am testing and exploring some of the intricacies of skill exchange. I am interested in exploring how to revalue hand making skills, and how to encourage intentional choices in how we spend and value our time.
Since much of my thesis is intertwined with the issue of sustainability, I am trying to reuse and upcycle as many materials as I possibly can in every aspect of my thesis making. When possible, I will be using recycled craft materials (like paper, fabric, and office supplies) and repurposing materials that I already have, or can get at SCRAP or other reuse centers.
I bought a large sheet of homasote at Discount Builders Supply, and had the piece cut into 4 smaller boards. Right now I am testing one bulletin board in the studio, but over the next few weeks I will install three more 2′x4′ boards around the CCA campus. Homasote is compressed recycled paper, commonly used in building construction for a variety of uses, including sound-proofing.I chose homasote because it is environmentally friendly, easy for me to modify and transport and can be repurposed after this project.
I covered each board with two contrasting fabrics from SCRAP, and added metal hardware to the back to hang the boards.
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| New skills as of Monday afternoon |
This bulletin board is a little like an analog craigslist. Really just without the internet, and digital parts, I promise. It is a community bulletin board, with the purpose of connecting grad students to their studio mates to share and trade hand making skills. I am using the board because I want to create a visual network or map, of all of the hand skills we have in the studio, and start to create opportunities for studio mates to share and learn new skills.
Using the board is fairly straightforward- There are two sets of cards to fill out, one for each side of the board. Anyone who wants to learn a new skill, and share their own hand skill can fill out two cards and post them on the board. One card is for skill you already have, and want to share, and the other card is for a skill you’d like to learn.
Over the next few weeks I will start setting up peer-to-peer skill exchanges based on the skills shared on the boards- I’m also putting together some group skill exchanges that will happen in the next month(ish) or so. One event in particular, something I am tentatively calling Make/Mend will be a group workshop at CCA, to teach, share and learn simple mending and sewing techniques. Participants will be asked to bring a piece of clothing in need of mending, and students and CCA community members will be there throughout the day to offer tutorials, advice, and general hands on help to repair and mend clothing. It will be free to attend, and no experience is necessary. Basic sewing supplies will be provided, along with snacks and (hopefully) conversation about the value of these skills.
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| New skills as of Friday afternoon |
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| SCRAP sewing supplies
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Coooll!