Hello, reader. How are you doing? I picked up this embroidery book in Russian? for free from the amazing local textile center. I want to tell you a story involving political embroidery. Please gather round and settle in for my tale.
First I will tell you about the Eugene Textile Center. It’s a place of wonder. It has an exciting array of crafty, arty inspiration.
- amazing looms
- estate sale yarn (the yarn of the dead, I call it)
- a fun impulse buy area near the cash registers
- needles of various kinds
- kits like potholder kits
- unprocessed fibers just sitting there waiting
- natural and unnatural ways to dye
- a mini-museum area of textile art to look at
- how-to art books
- regular new yarn
- a wall of used materials where I found my hex loom and a darning egg for my dear one
- completed textiles for sale like the most beautiful scarves you’ve ever seen
But have I told you about my favorite part? My favorite part of Eugene Textile Center is the free area.
free is my favorite flavor
Wow, yes. By the door is usually a free area. I’ve found some amazing things over the years that blew my mind and altered my inner world.
I found some fabric scraps, tons of them in a rectangle shape, and used those scraps to make fabric St Brigid’s Crosses that I still keep near me these days. And I drew one as the cover of a mini-zine Jealousy Is a Stressor.
There were some mason jars that had a warning that they were only to be used for a certain chemically crafty purpose, which pushed me off kilter because I had never considered that mason jars were potentially contaminated. Previously I’d believed that….you wash a mason jar, and it’s clean!
Well, of course some behaviors produce contamination that can’t be seen, like nuclearism. Eyeing the free contaminated mason jars longingly, I learned an important lesson. More about that later.
political embroidery
Last time I was there, I picked up some random lace making and embroidery books to look at from the free area. I thought maybe I could use parts of them in my zines or other projects.
Later at home I looked through this book.
I was shocked by the pictures of political embroidery I found there. Felt like I hit some kind of history jackpot.
Wow, very communist stuff. Peace through red star.
It made me think of a zine friend I knew long ago who was some kind of communist. I thought of that friend. Would they like to make this type of political embroidery? Are they even of the same beliefs, these days?
the important lesson
I heard about a place where the government sent radioactively contaminated things to be alone and not hurt people. But the workers would pillage the materials like, “Wow, they got rid of this perfectly good truck,” and then they would take the truck, drive it around a bit, and die real quick.
In a way humans are simple creatures, and “seeing is believing.” If we can’t use our senses to experience a danger, it might not exist.
Ever since I was young I’ve believed in things I can’t see because spirit life is as real to me as physical life. I see God everywhere. Also words mean too much to me–thus my 34 years of zines and almost 20 years of blogging. Ideas are everything. Poetry about the sky is as real as the sky.
So I might have an advantage, believing in risks and possibilities that others pooh-pooh. There’s a local place called Bring for recycled building supplies, and they have a shed full of glass with mostly mason jars. How many of those jars are contaminated?
If I used one as a vase for flowers on my desk, is that ok? But if that contaminated mason jar gets mixed in with the other ones and I’m drinking tangerine juice from it, that might be hard for my health.
thank you
Thank you, reader, for enjoying my tale about political embroidery. I love you very much and hope you have the creative outlets you need to express the truths you’re here on earth to express.
