Quick - hot off the press from Not Martha, a make-your-own door draft stopper tutorial an EXCELLENT idea especially for those of us that rent, well executed and clear tutorial!!

I think it’s interesting that a site like Instructables.com doesn’t mention the word ‘fluxus’ in any article. And the only mention of ‘Flux’ is in reference to soldering materials. It’s not like anyone who didn’t study art should know about Fluxus artists. Arguably, they were not that influential outside the artworld, and not that influential during their time. It was only later that Fluxus gained recognition. Arthur Danto, a US art-critic writes about how he had first heard about Fluxus only in 1984.

It came to mind that maybe we were missing some tricks by not digging a bit into even recent art history. I’m not entirely sure how much we ‘owe’ it to the fluxus movement, but I do feel they were working with ideas which are becoming more prevalent today. And their work is an inspiring reference, and good brain-food. Check out this ‘George Maciunas, «Fluxkit», 1964 © George Maciunas- shown on Media Art Net . If you’re into swaps, and mutliples, and mail art you’ll dig fluxus work.

DIY art: Arbitrary gaps between low and high art

The first thing I saw at instructables was LED Throwies linked from Make Magazine. “A way to add color to any ferromagnetic surface in your neighborhood”. I was reminded of conceptual art, and instructions like those at “Do it at E-flux“… I think the only difference between the two sites is their intended audience, and distribution. (See e-flux’s list of art-establishment links like Art Forum, Frieze, Parkett).

This is not paint-by-numbers. Instructions as art was a theme amongst Fluxus conceptual artists. Sometimes these instructions produced physical objects, sometimes they were actions you could perform along or events you could organize with a group. You made the art ‘happen’, it explored the relationship between artists/maker/audience. And for that it is really interesting, especially as makers ourselves… and as we promote others to create their world around them.

Fluxus artists like Joseph Beuys believed everyone was an artist. They explored art of daily life and life as art, and bridged the arbitrary gaps between what was ‘art’ and ‘not art’. They reinterpreted the objects around them; they repurposed. They organized creative ‘happenings’ with ambiguous meanings and purpose. Sound familiar?

It’s like the premonitions of a fluxus world are coming to life. Repurposing, and reinterpreting, spontaneous ‘guerrilla’ creativity… And discovering the meaning and politics of making objects. Some of these ideas are nearly going mainstream (at least in the US) with magazines like Make and Readymade.

The many postcard swaps, ATC (artist trading cards), the multiples at Nervousness, 1000 journals travelling the world, instructions on how to be a guerilla artist…

This thread at Nervousness “ documents a Never Ending RAOK (Random act of kindness). It was started in 2003, and is still going strong at 171 pages as of today. Fluxus artist George Maciunas a Lithuanian artist who produced art through the mail, might have enjoyed this technology very much. He would be proud.

I think that because these things are outside of the mainstream art-establishment, this would have appealed very much to fluxus artists like Joseph Beuys.

Fluxus art may have looked ephemeral; mail art, multiples, printed instructions… They did not focus on the finery of fine art, and perhaps their work may not appeal to the craftsperson inside of you. It might appeal to the dreamer in you, and the one who is trying to bridge the gap between life and art.

I love cards and stationery, especially hand made letterpress and screen-printed ones. My ever-growing collection has been residing in a messy pile on my bookshelf. When I need one, the whole pile comes out, and I rummage around for an appropriate one. In a fit of reorganizing the other day, I set them free. Each one came out of it’s envelope or protective sleeve and went into 2 fabric bins. You occasionally see displays like this at card shops, and I love the feel of flipping through my collection as if I were at my favorite stationery store.

ETA: I got these great foldup fabric bins at a 100-yen store in Japan. I’ve also seen suitable canvas bins at Ikea and the Container Store, among other possibilities. Any pretty box would do.

It’s March 1st and that means that new issues of some of my favorite free online fiber arts magazines have just come out, so I thought today would be a good day to give you a run down of some of the oldies but goodies and also the growing number of new zines on the scene.

MagKnits has their new March issue up and it’s packed with lots of new patterns. MagKnits has been around since February of 2004 and is now publishing monthly.

Spindilicity also has out a new issue, only their second, and their focus is on handspinning. They have lots of articles, projects and other info packed in the issue.

Spun Magazine notes on their site that a new issue is due out this month, but no sign of it yet. This is another relative newcomer to the scene and offers knitting patterns, articles and quite a few knitting book reviews.

Crochet Me is for all you crocheters out there! They released a 2006 mini issue with a valentines day theme which featured some nice patterns.

MenKnit Magazine is here to say that men are doing it too. Their second issue came out this winter and it has a great selection of patterns (and even a crossword puzzle!)

The AntiCraft is another newcomer and it’s for everyone who wants something completely different. There’s a sock pattern and a recipe, but that doesn’t come close to explaining it, you just have to go check it out!

Knitty is. . . well — you’ve already heard of Knitty, right?

Just to follow up on an issue that had been raised in the comments of an earlier post, copyright is a very difficult and confusing issue for crafters and artists, and I don’t pretend to understand it completely myself. But it is important that the copyright of crafters’ work is respected, because they make a living through the sale of their creative ideas and products. This has implications for the reproduction of patterns, the use of fabrics, using ‘found’ images in collages, and particularly the use of any of these in items that are intended for sale. I have put together some useful links that have a lot of information on the different aspects of these issues. Remember also that copyright laws vary from country to country, so be sure you are familiar with the copyright rules where you live.

Copyright for Collage artists

FAQ about copyright for artists

A really good guide to copyright for crafters and knitters from the girl from auntie. Includes information regarding Canadian copyright laws.

Susie ghahremani has been talking about a US senate amendment that would remove copyright for orphaned or unattributed works, which is being opposed by artists and graphic designers

Copyright Law and the Stitcher from Needlepoint now

Information sheets from the Australian Copyright Council (both via inaminuteago)

Copyright and Patterns

Copyright for Quilters and Crafters

Using Copyrighted Fabrics and a discussion at Dioramarama

Some works are now published under a creative commons licence. Learn about that here.

The image above is from a campaign by the International Publishers Association.

You ready for this? Easy, quick and very satisfying pincushion.

Cut 2 circles from your chosen fabric. One side a woolen fabric like felt (at least 70% wool) or wool blanketing (the side you stick pins in) and a cotton fabric for the other side. You can make the diametre of this as large or small as you wish for your pincushion, up to you. The circles pictured here are 5 inches (approximately 130mm) in diametre (1/4 inch / 5mm seam allowance included).

Depending on the type of cotton fabric you use, you may need to iron on interfacing to prevent fraying of the edges.

Put the two pieces together right sides facing and sew on the sewing machine a hem around the edges. Oversew the start and finish of your sewing. Don’t forget to leave a gap between 1-2inches to turn out.

Turn the pincushion right side out through the gap you’ve left.

Stuff the pincushion, stuff it well if you want a nice plump, firm finish. You can use polyfill (craft fill) or wool roving. Make sure to stuff using little tufts, don’t stuff in chunks of filling you’ll end up with a bumpy finish.

Once you’re satisfied with the firmness of your pincushion, slip stitch the opening closed.

Now comes the fun bit. Grab yourself the longest sewing needle you have and some embroidery thread (use all 6 strands), you’ll need quite a long piece, don’t cut it too short.

Tie a knot in one end of your thread (make it a decent knot, you don’t want it to slip/pull through the fabric) and starting from the felt side stick the needle and thread through the centre of your cushion through to the cotton side. Pull it tight and then loop it around the cushion over to the felt side and come up through the centre in the same place you started. You’ve done one petal.

From there continue doing the same thing, working in a figure 8 around the pincushion. So after the first petal wrap the thread around the opposite side of the first petal and come back up through the centre again. Continue until you have 8 plump petals, making sure you pull the thread tight each time so you get nice definition. You could also try a 3, 4, 5 or 6 petal version.

Then once you’re satisfied with your petals knot the thread whilst it’s still attached to the centre and then add your decoration to the centre of your cushion, or leave it bare. The one pictured here has a vintage button on one side and a self covered button in the same cotton fabric used on the other side.

After I’d finished writing this :) I came across this tutorial which will also assist! via Redwork in Germany.

No pincushion would be complete without shrinky pins, here’s Hilary’s tutorial
There’s Bella Dia’s stunning work
Flickr: pincushion tag and group

Next week a tutorial, how to make your own customised tape measure cover. A simple, fun project.

‘Hair raising’ - an exhibition at ICA Jan Jose, is on until march 11. This exhibition features art made of human hair. (via 30gms)

During the past decade, there has been a growing fascination among contemporary artists with all manner of bodily experiences. Increasingly, the body has been used not only as the subject in artwork, but as the medium as well. Menstrual blood, nail clippings and skin have all been used to create works that examine the human body in every possible way. And hair is no exception.

Some other art from human hair:
cloth made from human hair - Memorial Art at Auschwitz
Installation, hand-made shoes of human hair
cotton and human hair weaving
handmade paper from human hair

image is by Lucrecia Troncoso from the exhition ‘hair raising’, Rinse and repeat, 2005, Hair, thread, wire and paint