improved cake messages?

After all the lovely constructive comments on my blog and in person i recieved from the last cakes project (thanks everyone!) my group Craftivist Collective made new cakes. What do you think?

Again, they are made with Fairtrade and organic ingredients (apart from the sprinkles on top like flowers and icing tubes and marshmellows- anyone know where i can get ethical ones?). This time we made tags out of paper and toothpicks.

Half the cakes where lemon flavoured so had on the flags on one side saying "fairtrade lemon gluten free cakes". And on the other "Dont let injustice leave a bitter taste in your mouth. Take action against it :)". The chocolate flavoured cakes said 'Gluten free fairtrade chocolate cakes" on one side and the other said said "Most cocoa farmers will never get the chance to afford to experience the taste of chocolate".

We sold them at Spitalfields market to raise money for charity. They went down really well and most people were really shocked about our cocoa farmer fact. Plus i got the chance to add to that conversation by talking about my recent trip to Ghana where i met and hung out with lots of cocoa farmers.

mini protest banner #3

This one is in a small park near Bishopsgate. It says "It's not enough to be compassionate, we must act." I wanted to have it on a park bench somewhere that a diverse group of people use from bankers to homeless drug addicts.

I thought it would be good on a park bench because it might people think about not just sitting and thinking, sympathising or emphathising about people going through injustices and struggles but encourage them to get up from the bench and do something to help their neighbours (local and global) live a better life.

The last two only stayed up for a day before someone took them off. I wonder how long this one will last... :(

Is big better?

On Monday, 24 November 2008 I wrote the blog: have you ever been asked: Do you care?

with this badge but a lot smaller. I thought the original badge was too small. but know i think this badge is too big. grrrr.... just cant get it right. what do you think?

Doves not Swallows

Ahhh, the joys of Shrink Plastic:) I made these dove badges. I see quite a few people with swallow tattoos on their chests or hoodies with them on and I really like the placement of them.

However, I am not quite sure of the meaning behind the swallows. I think it relates back to the Navy. Lots of tattoos and alternative images such as swallows in this placement seem to refer to violence (army, navy, guns, daggers etc) so i wanted to turn that on its head and to doves instead.

Doves represent peace and the colour of white makes me think of innocence and purity too. I get asked sometimes why i have doves and its a great opportunity to talk about peace and actively searching for it (hence the green leaf in their mouths that link to the biblical story of Noah's Ark).

Everything i make whether as public art (cross stitch graffiti, mini banners, hidden letters etc) or to wear (belts, badges, keyrings etc) I want it to make people think and ask questions so we can have interesting discussions about social justice and peace.

So if you see me with my doves on - now held by Gaffer tape on the back:( - I hope you say hello and have a chat with me about how we can aim for peace in the world :) x

can cupcakes make people act?

I used to regularly make organic and fairtrade cupcakes with messages on social justice issues. I would sell them on a stall at the back of my lovely ex boyfriends gigs and give the money to charities working on trade justice. I would also have petitions for people to sign and free stickers and badges given to me by NGOs for people to have.

Me and my housemate decided to try and make some cakes this weekend to give to our colleagues in our offices on Monday. We are going to put tags or post-its on each one with a little message about the issue the cupcake refers to (climate change or trade), ask them to do something to support fairtrade or 'stop climate chaos' this week in exchange for a tasty chocolate or lemon cupcake:)

I wonder if they will do something or at least think about supporting fairtrade or the climate change issue.

Do you think I'm being too optimistic?

mini protest banner #2

I tend to steal quotes for my mini banners from postcards I bought from a radical independant bookshop in Liverpool called News From Nowhere (= check it out!). They include quotes from Ghandi, Dali Lama, Martin Luther King Jr, Mother Teresa, Swedish proverbs etc. However this mini banner is a quote my mum came up with :)

I told her I wanted to have a mini banner that I could put up in a financial district in London to talk about how this 'depression' should be seen as a great opportunity for banks to think of new ways to make money in an ethical and grassroots way and how their way of trampling on people to make a profit doesnt work!

My amazing mother came up with: "THERE IS A GAP IN THE CLOUDS OF UNBRIDLED CAPITALISM, NOWS THE TIME TO ACT FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE"

I put it up on a bar near Bank tube station, London. It stayed up for 2 days before someone took it, leaving only the cable ties there (and this photo) to remind me of its existence

2nd Some Craftivists meeting

So we had our 2nd open meeting which we decided to do crafts on the theme of International Women's Day (8th March annually). We made keyrings and badges in the colours of IWDay and used the feminist empowerment symbol seen in the photo provided.


Again, all the material were provided (felt, fabric, fabric paint, stencils, keyrings, badge-backs, shrink plastic, fabric felt tip pens, coloured card, sticky back plastic) and people made really different products.


We all had to put a white tag on our items and write a fact or thought on womens issues in the Global South. Some of us asked people to show people their item and start a conversation on these issues, others asked to think about their global sisters across the UK when they looked at their item.


We offered people in the library cafe an item in exchange for their signature on our petition for the rights of women in Iran. We got lots of smiles, thank you's, people asking what we were doing and wishing us goodluck in our future projects.

We had some old members and so new members. We all had a lovely day crafting but also had really interesting conversations about womens rights, our generations views on women and what we wanted to do next month.


any ideas what we could do next month?

will i be lonely anymore?

I have recently set up a 'Some Craftivists' group on Facebook (any ideas where else I should post the group?) and have my first proper open meeting on Saturday 24th January 2009 in the British Library Cafe. It's exciting but also really scary! :s

I thought it would be a great way to meet like-minded people and other Craftivists. We can hopefully work together on public art projects to make people think about poverty and social injustice and change the world! ;p I had an invite only preliminary meeting in December 2008 to see if my idea might work. We met 11am-2pm (which is when I hope all meetings will be) to see if that was a good time to meet: to long, too short, too busy, took up too much time in the day, too early, too late. We made some 'mini banners' to cable tie to railings and fences around London. The banners could include any facts or statements to show their passion these craftivists had about global poverty and injustices. I brought a long a suitcase of crafts for people to use for free.

Whilst sewing and cross stitching the mini banners we discussed how these meetings could be as fun and fruitful as possible. We made a manifesto so there is a focus on what we will and won't campaign on, thought of how we would like the meetings to be structured (do we want an agenda. a theme for each monthly meeting, speakers to come in, a project completed each month...), when the meetings will be, how to promote the gruop and how to provide the craft resources.

So the plan is: we will have a meeting every 4rd Saturday of the month at 11am-2pm at the British Library (its central, free and meetings go on there all the time but we need to campaign to make sure they get Fairtrade tea and coffee in their cafe!). People will pay £2 each meeting to pay for the resources (this can change depending on how much the resources cost for each project). However we didnt want to confirm how the meetings would go until we have or first open meeting next Saturday. And that's why I'm pretty nervous and scared of the first proper meeting... :s

What if people disagree with my ideas of having themes or projects we all work on each month?
What if people offer some ideas I dont want to do but the rest of the group do want to do? What if no one turns up? What if people find me and the idea of the group boring? I am a bit of a control freak so this is super scary for me!

Any ideas on how you think these meetings should go? How would you do it?

bigger = easier

So this is the same design as the small one below but it is on a bigger grid. It's on a carpack fense off Hackney Road, London. It was a lot quicker to do because the grids where bigger so my fingers and hands could get around the back easier. I want to do more big grid work but I am struggling to find any 'blank canvases' in this material. Does anyone know of any? Please send me directions in the comment box so i can check them out and see if i can start doing some more cross stitch graffiting- I'm hooked now- I love it! :)

Am I improving?

So this is my second try at stitch graffiti. It’s a small one on Brick Lane, E1 London. I decided to do it at 1:30am on a Monday morning because no-one would be stupid enough to be up then right? Wrong! There where still some drunken students and some actual authentic drunks and worst of all; there was a guy (who sounded American) who wouldn’t stop watching me do my 'graffiti', asking what my tag name is and how i came up with the idea.I don’t have a name. Why should i? I'm not doing it for cool points Mr.; unlike himself who later couldn’t help but tell me he is a graffiti artist and i should look his name up "smiff with one f". I honestly don’t care about that world I just want to make people think and hopefully see that 'love stinks if you don’t act on it!'

but saying that: I'm really nervous that this man will steal my style. He kept asking how i was doing it, what wool i use, how i came up with the ideas, how i decide on designs and come up with designs etc etc. He saw my little scrap of cross stitch fabric with ideas on (and this one on i was using as a reference) and you could hear the cogs turning in his head. I told him it would be disrespectful if he stole my style but he just smirked.= Smif if you are out there: Please don’t do it! Please don’t steal my style! :(

have you ever been asked: Do you care?

You will soon realise that I absolutely luuuuuvvvv Shrink Plastic. I can't remember when I first found out about it but it was year ago and I get excited about using it and thinking of new things to make with it.

I made this badge last year and wear it as often as I can. It is a speech bubble saying 'Do you care?' and I have had quite a lot of comments about it from people I know and also complete randomers.

My hope with making this badge was to get people to ask the question to themselves. It's open enough for people to link it to what they are thinking already or ask me to explain it more. It's a great conversation starter into talking about global poverty and social justice issues.

one example: I was at Wagamamas with my amazing older sister one day. We were sharing a Yaki Soba (its the only dish i ever get; its too good not to have it!) and drinking tap water. Big Spenders I know. And what makes it worse is that it was near Liverpool Street and Bank, during rush hour so lots of corporate's were there spending loadsa money watching us order tap water and more free green tea. However, luckily our waiter was lovely, understood our budget lifestyle and even gave us some 2 for 1 vouchers for next time. Legend! Anyway, back to the point: the lovely waiter asked what my badge meant. My response was "so do you care about people living in poverty, the effect your carbon footprint have on the world and how everything we do makes a difference in the world?" He looked at me like he had just bitten into a lemon but then smiled and said he will "think about it" = result!:) I hope I did it in a non-threatening, smiley way and not a preachy way.

The badge is te easiest Shrink Plastic thing to make. If you want one send me your details and I'll post you one:)x

This is my first: I'll get better... I hope

Ok, bear in mind that this is my first ever xstitch graffiti piece so I went for something quick and easy. It's supposed to say 'I hate dirty money' hence the smelly squiggly lines above the pound sign.

I did this about 3 months ago. Its done with thick wool and you can find it at the top of Brick Lane on Bethnal Green road.

I did it at 5am on a weekday thinking Brick Lane would be dead but it was so bright that day, loads of cars went past and i got a few heckles from random old guys saying "thats illegal you know". I agree; it is but its not permanent- you can cut it off with scissors really easily. I also got two lovely guys come up to see what i was doing. They were street cleaners and said that they hate having to clean off graffiti and stickers but they liked what i was doing so they promised not to take it off. And guess what?: its still there (yay!) and the weather has actually made it stronger and stiffer which is a relief because i thought the knots would get loose easily because the wool is so soft.

I hope it makes people think about how we spend our money, where our money goes and what it is supporting. Even if it doesnt make anyone else thing, every time i walk past it, it keeps me in check and reminds me to try and live ethically