My second weaving project is complete (I made the first practice run from cat’s claw creeper). It’s a basket for the kitchen sink, made of discarded electrical wire from the grocery store in my childhood home town. Working with this “waste” material has helped me to reflect on the abundance of trash that daily life creates, and that the ease of waste disposal where I live almost entirely masks the impacts of consuming, and throwing away, so much stuff. Tossing it in the rubbish bin, of course, is not the end of the story, although it would be easy to be mistaken about this! One of my favourite videos about this is The Story of Stuff. I’d love to know if you’ve watched it and what you think.
I’ve started being much more conscious when I throw stuff away. I picture it languishing in landfill for the next gazillion years and ask myself if I could use it in some other way. Weaving is one of those ways.
This basket is pretty quirky, and far from perfect…but it filled a need and was super fun to weave. Knowing that there’s a little less landfill makes me feel good every time I look at it!
Oh, and if you need weaving inspiration you must check out Rene Bahloo who is Weavery – a beautiful business that connects weaving with spirituality and ecological awareness. I follow her on Facebook and she also has a website. She has a retreat coming up at Bribie Island too.
Rene
charliebenn
Lizette