Back in September, a bunch of the Re:Make girls put together a little table at the Annual Cabbagetown Festival. We sold hand-bound books, beautiful cupcakes, and buttons. By the end of the day, we managed to raise $180 towards the flood relief efforts.

Then! almost a month later a few ladies from the neighbourhood purchased the remaining books. Final fund-raising efforts equate to…  $218! All doubled by the Canadian government.

Great work girls! And continued prayers for the folks in Pakistan seeking to sort out life after the storm.

Ever notice how much stuff we throw in the trash?
This week’s challenge is to take a peak in your home garbage or recycling. Notice what’s there and what items might be reused. Make a list of 5 things you find there and write or draw what you could make them into. (Feel free to use the internet to research a little)

*BONUS: If you’ve got the internet and some time, check out this little video called “The Story of Stuff.”

I am most amazed by the print making process. There’s something magical about the tactile nature of sticky ink uniting carved rubber and textured paper. A something that will never be captured accurately by the digital age despite the advancement of photoshop filters… *sigh.

Our print making theme was “pieces of my community”. Above it Aymen’s take on the beauty of some of the gardens in the ‘hood. Just lovely, I think.

You might describe a symbol as an image or shape, colour or thing, that signifies a bigger idea. Our environment is full of them!

Your challenge this week is to think of and draw as many symbols as you can think of.  It would be great to include symbols specific to your culture heritage, too.

… a finish-your-collage drop-in time, too!

The line up this week goes like this.
TUESDAY 1:00-4:00pm Paper making and starting to sketch out our ideas for print making
WEDNESDAY 12:30-3:30pm Drop-in time. Free time to finish up our collages from last week.
THURSDAY 1:00-4:00pm Print making. Carving up a storm and gettin’ to printing on our handmade paper.

Hoping to post photos of our progress as we go.

A Utopia is an ideally perfect place, especially in its social, political, and moral aspects.

Consider what your idea of utopia is. Write down or draw a picture (or both!) to describe what utopia would look like to you.

THOUGHTS ON BEAUTY

• List five words to describe what beauty is to you.
• Find out what other people think about beauty — ask your friends, family members, or google it up.
• Sketch 3 people, objects, or places from around your neighbourhood that you consider beautiful (consider what makes them beautiful to you as you’re sketching).

Book Binding instructions are here! There are loads of ways to bind books. These are the ones we made last week. The perks of this kind of book are that it’s hard cover for durability, simple stitching, and it lies open easily — great for sketching and journal writing.

The How-To is right here: Bookbinding-instructions.

Re:Make Day 3: Photography. Out in the ‘hood to shoot.

This week kicks off with a visit from my favourite photographer, Alyssa Bistonath. I highly recommend becoming her facebook fan. AND check out the Piga Picha project, too!