Slow Assemblage

 

The Medic

Slow assemblage occurs almost spontaneously, when objects come together across time and space. It is more intuitive than intentional.

Close-up, The Medic

This first piece was sparked by an encounter with a vendor selling vintage lead toy soldiers on Portobello Road in London. The valiant little army medic (94th Infantry Position, US Army, 1945) was so compelling that he was mine from the first moment. Is that a look of valor or despair in his eyes, or the "long stare" of a combat soldier who has simply seen too much of the horrors of war? Once back in California, not a second's thought went into pairing him with an antique miner's lantern, designed to hold a candle and be looped over a belt strap and found in a bin of junk over thirty years ago at the Alameda Flea Market,  The addition of candles - to illuminate the trenches, to light the way, to provide a focus for ritual, magic, and prayer was obvious. This slow assemblage had found itself.

The second slow assemblage also came together through time and space in spontaneous reaction to another object gifted to me in London — a foot carved out of volcanic rock from Hawaii. 

The Foot

The objects drawn to the foot and forming a perfect fit include a huge rusted nail picked up on a wander along the railroad tracks circa 1990, and a twisted, curved swirl of honeysuckle root picked up during a hike with Brother Shimo, a found wood and stone artist in Japan, back in 1970. The perfect housing emerged from a stack of assorted vintage drawers found here and there, over a span of decades.

Close-up

Nail and honeysuckle root

If the process of slow-assemblage is indeed non-intentional, one might wonder if there is any way to encourage or stimulate this spontaneous happening. Why yes, yes there is.  Curiosity, awareness, and mindless collecting are key ingredients. That scrap of rust on the ground is so lovely, why not pick it up? The broken figurine needn't go into the bin; who knows what it might give birth to a few decades from now? The answer, in short, is junk. 

Junk!

Lots and lots of junk. Every once in a while, bring some of it out, spread it around, and play with it. If nothing happens, store it away again with no harm and no foul. You simply had a pleasant interlude playing. This will also help you develop a comprehensive understanding of and relationship to your junk, so when and if a new object enters the picture you sense immediately which objects in your universe of junk are longing to be paired with it.

Lots and lots of junk!*

* Full disclosure: The photos above show a very, very small fraction of my vast junk collection.

The Baby Boomer Manifesto

 From each according to his abilities. I was going to wait until the general protests for the fascist military parade on June 14, but democracy is falling faster than I would have believed possible. This is the best I can come up with at the moment. Share it around, download it, print it out, post flyers. 

Cover

Back

Inside mini-poster

If you would like to print out and pass around a bunch of these, a free downloadable pdf is available here: The Boomer Manifesto download.

Basic Thrift Store Shirt Butchering

 

The end product - a perfect shirt filet!

This time around the focus is on basic thrift store shirt butchery. The shirts in question are those endless racks of classic man-tailored shirts ideally suited for boring nine to five office jobs, found by the armload at any thrift store. They can generally be had for anywhere from $3 to $5 depending on the thrift store. That means you are getting lots and lots of lovely cotton fabric (check labels and avoid synthetics) far more cheaply than you'd pay at a fabric store, and you are keeping all of those shirts in circulation and out of the landfill.

To create a jigsaw pieced creation like the one above, pick at least three shirts in complementary hues, or in contrasting colors that appeal to you. Butchering a man's shirt involves removing all useable expanses of fabric and gutting and tossing the reinforced seams. You may want to save collars and cuffs for other projects (see Power Cuffs for another fun and fashionable project). Stream something online, grab your scissors, and make an evening of it!

Shirt butchering diagram

Keep the front button and button hole plackets intact – they can contribute interesting and unexpected details to your final creation. What you end up with after an enjoyable evening of shirt butchering is a lovely array of useable fabric. At that point, let the creative fun begin. 

The salvaged fabric

Try piecing the fabric together in a variety of different ways. The end product in this case is a short-sleeved shirt formed from a rectangle, which gives you lots of leeway to mess around.

Let the piecing begin!

One priority for me has always been pockets, and I found a number of ways to incorporate them into this new creation from the butchered parts. The top center pocket is actually a meta-pocket, incorporating the breast pocket that was on one of the original shirts, which is itself simply the exterior of another, larger pocket formed from a panel that includes a portion of the buttoned front placket of the original shirt. A button placket was used again for the lower right pocket.

Pockets, count 'em!

There is no limit to your creativity when it comes to shirt butchery. 

Shirt back

And finally, here is the shirt in action. . . shown on me in a spaced out moment in my living room.

Moi