Dear friends,

I'm wondering if we can help each other (especially those who will be doing holiday presents) avoid buying exploitative and high-emissions new consumer products this year. Resource- and skill-sharing, ya know?

Things aren't as they've been this year, why should the ways you honor loved ones and your generosity towards them manifest itself in the same way?

We have to rethink all we are, remake all we've been, learn new ways to be together in love and solidarity!

I know for a lot of people, buying lots of new things for one another can be a way to express that love, or show security and willingness to sacrifice.

We can shift that!

Firstly, I'd suggest trying to understand what gifts mean to you (both giving and receiving), and to the recipients of them. Like, what feelings do you have, why? What makes you feel warm and fuzzy? Is there guilt or shame or dread?

Because you gotta meet your emotional needs.

But after that, working with who we are and the core of our traditions (that we want to hold on to), what changes can we make now, during a pandemic year when we likely should not gather in person with most or all of our loved ones?

For direct replacement of how you may've done things, shopping secondhand is basically like shopping new, but so much less harmful to workers and to the planet!

@shopjunket is an excellent online store/resource, but there's also ebay, etsy, and all sorts of specialized sites.

We could share specifics if anyone's looking for anything in particular? I have friends who've made good use of Craiglist, nextdoor, and free sites to meet both needs and desires for new stuff without buying new.

For my particular skills, I've knit/sewn/embroidered things and made jewelry (reused/secondhand materials), given granola/trail mix, repaired and mended both "new" and loved items, made lotion, made cutting-board/wood-spoon wax, made felted-sweater mittens, etc.

I've designed business cards, calendars, done screen printing on secondhand and deadstock/sample tshirts. Given tshirt handkerchiefs (that one was surprisingly popular, they're way softer than kleenex!), made books (bookbinding)...

I know many people likely are extra limited in time and/or money this year, so I'm thinking about how we kind of pool our knowledge and resources to solve for this together (hello, mutual aid!), how we get what we have excess of to people who want or need it.

I used to do craft/art shows. One of the things I HATED was that I had to produce items without knowing they were wanted or needed. That makes me super-uncomfortable.

I'd love to figure out how to support what you/your circles want and need, and vice versa.

I've got extra wool sweaters, with visible mending, in a few sizes. I'm hoping to make wool overskirts for myself and some family, and then others who're ready to rock the warmest winter legwear ever! I want to share scobys (kombucha's a lovely and healthy gift for most people!).

I can share my recipe for trail mix/granola (v good reviews so far) and the pattern I use to knit hats (easy if the only thing you've ever done before has been scarves, also can use DPN + make it fancy with intarsia/cables. I might have extra yarn frogged from thrifted sweaters.

I'd be super happy to do sweater-mending for you for a loved one, or to talk you through it.

Nothing says "love" like mending and oiling someone's favorite leather mittens (and shows respect for the animal keeping them warm).

Do a no-contact pick-up of loved one's favorite well-used cutting boards and wooden spoons, lightly sand them if/as needed, and return them all oiled and waxed, perhaps with a small container of home-made oil/wax for them to keep going.

(Freshly oiled wood is FUN and SO PRETTY)

I LOVE seeing @avocadoplex's new knife handles with local sustainable wood from @woodfromthehood and dream of a trade or learning how to do it myself or something.

Or look at @elorraine_'s latest mended irish wool sweater, picked up free online. She's talked about selling on etsy before, so maybe she's available to make your loved one's favorite needs-help sweater even cozier! (Definitely inspiration regardless.)

I'm struck by the abundance of creativity and beauty that comes from the people I know both On Here and irl, the way we're surrounded by incredible skills we don't even know about, that people aren't even always aware they are unique in having!

One of the things I've always loved about making gifts instead of buying them is that it's like the fundamental aspect of giving gifts magnified: the conscious consideration of the needs and desires of another human being, almost a meditation on who they are and why we love them.

And one of the things that breaks my heart about buying new stuff, especially as I've learned to repair and make more and more things, is how this joy is removed, how rather than the making-process being one of love and consideration, it's a lineage of exploitation of others.

We can move towards a circular gift giving, an infinite loop of love at all stages of matter. I give you food, you mend a sweater, you2 wears that sweater while harvesting beautiful wood, you3 carves that wood into a spoon, you4 makes food with that spoon, and I eat that food.

I could share houseplant cuttings with you (minus the ones that I grew for a dearest friends and still haven't delivered them five months later!), if you want any?

Or maybe you're curious about making snow bristle wreaths but need a video?

Or baskets with plastic ribbon from pallet packaging waste, but need other examples?

Or just the right bit of fabric to mend a loved one's favorite mask?

One of my FAVORITE THINGS EVER since I've started mending in public has been talking with people about the logistics of how to fix something--it can be daunting if you're just starting and it gets easier, mentally, with practice and with someone to brainstorm with. DM/call me!

I can show you how to use security envelope liners to make origami paper (gorgeous, often blue and white, I have some garlands I've made with it).

I can show you how to felt balls for garlands or jewelry or ??? out of just the trimmings of wool mending (or other) yarn.

I can show you how to make twine, including out of old clothes (for a sentimental gift!)

I've started trying to make inks out of oak galls (the source for ink for European illuminated manuscripts), and iron and rocks and I can talk you through what I've learned/refer you onward

I've done rust dye and avocado dye and can offer tips.

I've made fermented cabbage and fermented carrots.

I've bound books, made paper, woven baskets, darned socks, and decorated my home with an abundance of trash.

The thing is so much of the value we as humans place on things is in how it's presented. There's a secondary element (for some people) about monetary value, but even that's about presentation.

As a graphic designer, I can share about that too, how we create perceived value.

I'm not a particularly skilled person--I just had parents who, any time I saw something I wanted (often, I love novelty!), were like "oh, I/we/you can make that! Let's do it!"

So I've tried a bunch of things because I thought I could because I was told it was in me.

I'm also adhd, and am very much a jack of all trades, master of none. Do you know how many times I've learned something just barely past minimum, done it obsessively for like a month, taught a friend, and then see where a truly competent person can take it with persistence?!?

We're a truly creative species of makers. Study after study shows how much joy we take in DIY, like the ikea effect. We know how much it means to us when someone we really love makes something for us, the way that care and attention makes us feel cared for and seen. <3

People feel similarly even supporting people they know, being the intermediary and knowing the story, or feeling that short-connection to others. Last week, my flame brought wild rice that his father harvest to my mother and she was so so happy!

This is the kind of interaction and economy we need, both for our planet (reduce miles resources/items travel) and for one another (reduce faceless exploitation).

2020 is a good year to start, to commit to it, to explore all the ways it might work for you.