Climate Craftivism

In February I made this valentine for the earth, which I handed out at our February Climate Revolutions bike ride. It started with this drawing of the earth and a bicycle, which I transferred to a 4 X 6-inch linoleum block, and cut with gouges and knives. (My first linoleum block in years!) I used black block printing ink, rolled out with a brayer on my pallet, then spread onto the block. Then I placed pre-cut printing paper on top and rubbed. I added the blue wash after the ink dried.

Last spring we got together to silkscreen some patches-- these are small logos on cloth that we pin onto clothing or bikes or packs. We hand them out for free at our Climate Revolutions meetings, for people to wear, and our goal is to start seeing them all over town! Last week we cut out and painted more to hand out. And at our last bike ride, I took these photos.

Our 350 and Climate Revolutions group will ride our bikes in Eugene's annual street parade, and we made a banner! It's ten-feet long, and say: Step Up For Climate  Bike Everyday! I decided to use an old canvas drop cloth because it's got some weight, and it was free. I spread it out in my driveway and used a 2x4 to draw lines I roughed in the letters with pencil, then outlined again with black Sharpie. Then I brought it in to my studio to start to paint. I'm using flat latex house paint and a foam brush. I used some old white house paint to cover up some paint stains on the cloth. And some leftover orange latex paint to make a stripe down the center On Friday we had a banner painting party, and I forgot to take pictures, but we finished the letters and the stripes. We cut small slits and used zip-ties to attach it to a bamboo pole!

I finally got this new flag hemmed and attached to my bike! After the paint was entirely dry,  I heat-set it with a hot iron. Hemmed the edges. Made a casing for the flag stick. Slid it onto the flag stick.

I stenciled this yesterday onto a scrap of gortex, with acrylic paints and a stencil brush-- and had lots of fun with the colors. My next step is to heat set the paint with an iron, and hem the edges. Tape the fabric and the stencil down well. Mix the first color- yellow and white, straight from the tube. Dab the paint, building color gradually. Add more colors. The reveal.

I finished the stencil yesterday, and printed a sample! Next I plan to make a flag for my bike, and then post it on the  Climate Revolutions  web page. 1. Squirt out a dab of acrylic paint and load the brush: Don't overload, and tap the brush up and down on the plate to distribute it evenly in the bristles. 2. Tap the brush up and down over the stencil- never rub because the paint will get under the edge.   3. Build up the paint slowly to avoid big blobs. 4. Lift the stencil to reveal the fun!

In the last post I showed you my design for a bike flag, and since then I've begun to cut the stencil. Cutting is hard on my hands-- they got tired before halfway, so I'll continue later. 1. Tape design to a cutting mat. 2. Tape acetate in place. 3. Cut with an exacto-knife (I added paint so you could see the cut out area). Some stencil cutting tips: Turn the stencil so you can always pull the knife downward. Curves are hard to cut- make short straight cuts and turn the stencil as you go. If you miss-cut, you can add a piece of masking tape, top and bottom, to repair. 4. Test stenciling.

I'm part of a group called "Climate Revolutions by Bike", and we say that "Biking is a radical climate action". Yesterday I started a design for a flag that says just that.  I'm making a stencil so that anyone else from our group can easily make a similar flag- I'll probably have a flag stenciling party sometime this summer! The first step was to design the lettering. (Lettering is my super power, because I studied and taught calligraphy for 15 years.) I need to write a whole page here on lettering, but for now I'll just say- Collect samples of lettering that you like. Pay attention to the spacing between letters. 1. Rough sketch of my new flag. I found these letters in a poster book and made a rough sketch of the words with pencil, then inked it quickly with a fat Sharpie.  2. Inked with a Sharpie. 3. Then I cut the words apart to rearrange. 4. Then I traced over the words in their new arrangement. Note: I use Sharp...