23 Jan Manchester Craftivism in action: changing the world one stitch at a time

Around November 2010 a lovely guy called Duncan from Manchester who was a graphic design student contacted the Craftivist Collective and asked if he could set up a collective in Manchester. He was clear in saying that he had never cross-stitched before and didn't know much about climate change but he was passionate about setting up a craftivism session in Manchester and wanted to invite people to make our Mini Protest Banners on the theme of climate change. Sarah Corbett our Founder emailed Duncan lots of resources for the mini protest banner session on the environment and they had a good chat about how climate change was a human rights because it is the poorest people in the world with the least carbon emissions per head of the population being affected the most by the affects of climate change. They met in Liverpool for the first time on Wednesday 1st December at the Liverpool Bluecoat Bed-In project the Craftivist Collective where involved in and there, Duncan learnt how to make his first mini protest banner. Duncan, being the graphic designer he is made his own Mini Protest Banner kit envelopes and flyers but stuck to our manifesto and content of our kits. The first session went well and well enough that he set up a second session for his group Craftivism Manchester at Nexus Art cafe in the hip Northern Quarter of the city.

23 Jan LOVE FROM THE EARTH: Another valentines letter template option from Craftivist Jane Bartlett

At the London Craftivism evening in Tatty Devine's shop last Thursday (more info here) a lovely craftivist called Jane attended her first Craftivist Collective meeting. Jane emailed us to book a place and came along with so much energy, enthusiasm and positivity - she fitted in with the rest of the group perfectly.

After the meeting Jane emailed us another option for a valentines card. It was so beautiful we wanted to share it with you. If you want to use Jane's letter (below) instead of the template you can find here then please do. Alternatively you could write your own but please make sure it fits in with our manifesto and climate change.

20 Jan Photos from tonight’s Tatty Devine workshop

Here are some photos from tonight's workshop at Tatty Devine in London - a few Craftivists met up to work through our Valentine's Day project together and create some beautiful shrink-wrapped keyrings, which we will then put into alternative love letters encouraging people to show some love to their global neighbours - posted around the city on February 14th this year. Click through to see more photos from tonight, and keep checking back for more as we upload them. To learn how to make your own love letters, and contribute to our worldwide project yourself, click here.  

14 Jan Tatty Devine design for our Valentines Project

14 Jan Valentines Letter template:

09 Jan Crafting onstage with Josie Long: a review by Margo

Josie Long is not your everyday comedic superstar. In her most recent show, Be Honourable! she celebrated porridge with religious fervour, did a stellar Nye Bevan impersonation, and told a hilarious and faintly disturbing story about a deranged paparazzo. But she also did a rare and noble thing, and introduced passionate political commentary to her act. Inspired by the election results and consequent turmoil of broken promises, cuts, and protests, Josie decided to become more politically active, and documented her progress as an activist.

01 Jan Help us hijack Valentines Day in 2011

Each year we try and hijack valentines day and remind people to "Show some love" for their global neighbours as well as the usual smushy stuff. We want you to join in our craftivism project this year please. This year we hope to have people all over the globe make as many cards as they can and leave them around their area on Valentines day. In the last 2 years we have left 100 letters around Liverpool and London (see photos here). Each letter will contain an alternative valentine’s letter (see template letter here), a handmade gift that Tatty Devine are designing for us (see design here) and a love heartsweet. Hand delivered to gaps in walls, cash machine slots, shop shelves etc- You don’t have to be in a relationship to have one of these!

01 Jan More photos from our Bed-in

Here are some more photos from our day at the Bluecoat in Liverpool, hosting a bed-in as part of our And Sew To Bed project. Our day was part of a series of bed-ins at the gallery to mark the anniversary of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's original endeavour for peace.