Kate Bowles

The maker culture on here is far from isolationist. What you do builds hope for others.

I watch people making, repairing, drawing, sewing, crafting knives and pots and short films and solutions and community and compost heaps and seed collections, and when my day begins all those actions and ideas stay with me.

Your labour of bothering to photograph it, alt text it, send updates about it, share frustrations and success, it’s just fantastic. You have no idea who’s watching and thinking: hey, maybe I could sew on a button after all.

Nov 2 at 7:25pmWeb
Show threadKate BowlesNov 2

The questions and reflections here have taken me back to de Certeau and The Practice of Everyday Life. It’s a text of its time in gender pronoun terms but it’s for our time in thinking about making and making do as the ruses, tactics and surreptitious refusals of the dominant culture that wants us only to sit open-mouthed in front of capitalism’s livestreams.

So making is also the life you make, it’s your survival, the way you shelter yourself and others. It’s your refusal and your gleaning and your showing up and your asking for help. All of it is an irritant to power and profit.

Keep on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Practice_of_Everyday_Life

Show threadKathleen FitzpatrickNov 2
@kate “An irritant to power and profit” would be an exceptionally good line in a bio. ❤️
Show threadKate BowlesNov 2
@kfitz Or a t-shirt! Re-reading de Certeau this morning I’ve been reminded all over again of la perruque: the time and resources we recapture from capital (especially from work) to make what we make. Stealthpunk.
Show threadKate BowlesNov 2
@kfitz It’s foodbanks, solidarities, mutual aid, whistles, listening, picking up the slack. It’s using whatever’s at hand, frustrating capital over and over.
Show threadWendroid 🇺🇦Nov 2
@kate A fellow I follow here is making his own dye, using oak galls for processing, and then making clothes from the dyed fabric. This place is serious makers’ haven
Show threadJules she/herNov 2
@wendinoakland @kate ooh could you share his account please? If he's using plant fibres I'd like to know if he's using anything as a mordant
Show threadWendroid 🇺🇦Nov 2
@afewbugs @kate
@ai6yr does hardcore diy dying
Show threadKate BowlesNov 2
@wendinoakland @afewbugs @ai6yr I love even thinking about what this is.
Show threadAlly from Reborn MediaNov 2
@kate I can’t agree with you more. Watching what people are doing/making/creating/learning is just wonderful.
Show threadJoYoNov 2
@kate you mean the people that build things are pretty good at building communities?
Show threadKate BowlesNov 2
@JoYo Yes, this. And sometimes more than may be obvious to the maker in their studio, their garden, at their machine. It’s communities encouraged into gathering.
Show threadhuman_poweredNov 2

@kate Making toggles has been fun. I mean a short wooden ~dowel on the end of a fixed loop of cord. These can replace rubber bands, velcro fasteners or ~tool-harnesses.

Besides a loop of cord, many kinds of toggles are returned by an iSearch. #knots
#bushcraft

Show threadCavyherdNov 2

@kate

& your post here reminded me that I needed to take a look at my bathroom clock. It's one of those "autoset" jobs, but the last few years it's had...issues with the DST time-change. This time around, pushing the button to reset the time turned the radio on!? Which then wouldn't turn off??

So I took off the case (after spending an hour & a half drilling off the head of a stripped screw—I think that's why I didn't address this last time). >

#FixingThings

Show threadKate BowlesNov 2
@cavyherd oh good luck! Yesterday I mended a pair of glasses that got sat on and broke in a tricky way.
Show threadCavyherdNov 2

@kate

Knock on wood, it seems to be working! 🤞

Side-note: I'm kind of astonished how much of my nearly 50yo electronics training is still there. Can still identify the little bits & bobs; have Opinions about the quality of the post-soldering clean-up 😂 I'm particularly amused by the 2.5 turn coils that are basically a lentil-sized loop of wire tacked down with a dab of hot-glue. There are several. Was that in the original spec? Or after-thought to make the tuning work? >

Show threadCavyherdNov 2

@kate

& bonus points for mending glasses! I did that for a boyfriend. Result was even reasonably aesthetic, & the hinge still worked, and it •wasn't• a glob of white medical tape!

Show threadCavyherdNov 2

@kate

No obvious damage, except for one smudge that wasn't anywhere near anything conductive that I could see. Brushed out some pretty mimimal dust. 🤷

Put it back together, figuring it'll be fixed, completely broken, or no change.

Came on okay when I plugged in, but didn't self-set. Well, I can live with a clock I have to set manually in the bathroom. >

#FixingThings

Show threadCavyherdNov 2

@kate

Unplugged it, took it back to the bathroom, plugged it in—and it happily reset? To the right time, even? (These have all been running 2-3 minutes fast, last few years. I can adjust the time, but they always drift, so why bother?)

Anyway, no clue what I did, but thank you, clock & repair gods? I was not looking forward to trying to find a replacement, since all the new ones have features I don't want, & also $$$.

Blanking on the right hashtag; hints, anyone?

Per Kate: #FixingThings

Show threadKate BowlesNov 2
@cavyherd #FixingThings will take you into a small community. It’s got me musing on what’s specific about fixing, as opposed to repairing. It’s the difference between not working, and broken.
Show threadCavyherdNov 2

@kate

Hah! A very nuanced contemplation.

That old expression: "Don't fix it if it ain't broke"—my version has always been "Don't fix it if it works." Bc I've had any number of experiences where the thing is •clearly• broken, but also serves it's purpose just fine.

Show threadCavyherdNov 2

@kate

Added! Thank you. I think there's another relevant hashtag, but it is resolutely refusing to present itself to my conscious awareness.

Show threadMa Quest Nov 3
@kate Thanks for this. Tagging for #SolarPunkSunday.
Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kate The maker culture can also be full of toxic masculinity and do exactly the opposite of all the good you've listed here. I experienced that first hand for two soul crushing years.
Show threadKate BowlesNov 3

@pussreboots Thank you for saying this — it’s really important not to romanticise maker culture in a general way. Toxic is toxic.

(I’m in awe of watercolorists, it’s a difficult medium.)

Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kate The thing with watercolor is that the beginner lessons that are done either in school or at fairs are often techniques that don't actually get used. It's really more a balance between doing things quickly (working with the water) and patience (waiting for the water to dry).
Show threadKate BowlesNov 3

@pussreboots This feels like a balance we could all use.

Seriously, thanks for explaining that.

Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kate No worries. I am still learning myself. :)
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate Maker culture as distinct from Crafter or Creative culture, perhaps? I think there's a significant overlap between Maker culture and Programmer culture, which has its own pockets of toxic masculinity. As a female programmer, I've been fortunate in not having run into it a lot, but I have had my unpleasant brushes with unrepentant sexism from male programmers.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3

@pussreboots @kate While Makers and Crafters and Creatives do overlap, what I've noticed is that Makers-as-defined-as-those-who-use-Makerspaces, and Makerspaces tend to cater to masculine-approved high-tech making, such as electronics, computer-building, woodworking, lasers, 3D printing and so on. Now, one could argue that that is because the purpose of Makerspaces is to provide access to these high-tech tools, and that is a valid point, but the result seems to be a male skew, and that makes them vulnerable to the development of toxic masculinity.

At least, that's my theory.

Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate Has anyone else noticed the male/female split between "Hobby" stores and "Craft" stores?
Hobby stores cater to masculine-approved crafts, such as model aircraft, miniatures (whether that be RPG miniatures or wargame miniatures) model railways and so on.
Craft stores, on the other hand, cater to crafts designated as being for women and children - textile crafts, low-end kits, jewellery, polymer clay, home decorating and such like.
Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kerravonsen @kate Sadly both kinds of store are seriously lacking where I live.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate When I was a kid, there were a lot more brick-and-mortar craft stores around. Now I do most of my craft shopping online, which, while convenient, also has its pitfalls.
Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kerravonsen @kate Same (I'm in my 50s). Heck, even within my children's lifetimes (they are 19 and 23) there were more.
Show threadDashNov 3

@kerravonsen @pussreboots @kate Not disagreeing.

But this did make me laugh from a UK perspective because the main big box/retail park chain for that stuff here is called "Hobbycraft" and sells both sorts.

Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kerravonsen @kate You don't need to explain this to me. I lived through such a mostly male (but not entirely) group of makers systematically sabotage a local art gallery. Now... not all of the male makers were awful (I am still friends with one). Not all of the makers were men. Not all of the older artists were female (though many were). What ended up happening was a toxic merger of the old elite white artists with the somewhat younger mostly male tech makers to guarantee that anyone not white, not straight and not younger than about 40 would be welcome at the space. Even if that meant losing funding and possibly going bankrupt. The first has happened. Not sure about the second.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate How horrible.
Show threadKate BowlesNov 3
@kerravonsen @pussreboots I’m also curious about makers-as-in-makerspace. I observed one being set up, and as an outsider to the process I did have some thoughts about the way “but there will also be sewing machines!” was explained to me in relation to a space that was predominantly proselytised in terms of 3D printing. My feeling is that repair cafes have established this balance in less toxic ways.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@kate @pussreboots Repair cafes? Not something I've come across.
Show threadKate BowlesNov 3

@kerravonsen @pussreboots

There are a few Repair Cafes on here, and others will post about local events. I’m not sure where they sprang up but here’s a starter for Europe at least:

https://www.repaircafe.org/en/

I feel that the repair cafe movement might have been more gender inclusive than some makerspace cultures but as you say, people are people.

The other equivalent community might be the community garden movement.

#repaircafes #repaircafe

Repair Café - Fix Your Broken Items

Repair Café is here to help you fix your broken items. Join our community of skilled volunteers and get your belongings repaired in a sustainable way.

Repaircafe
Show threadSarah SammisNov 3

@kate @kerravonsen The makerspace I was directly associated with did have sewing machines along with the 3D printer and the cricut machine. The cricut and sewing machines were by far the most popular equipment but tended to bring in women and younger cosplayers, two categories of people the men who set up the space were outright hostile to.

I don't personally know how to use a sewing machine. I did have a go at the cricut and that was fun but ultimately not my thing. I wanted to learn how to make the files that the 3D printer uses. I never got a change to do that or use the machine.

(In my 20s I used to do 3D modeling as a hobby)

Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3
@pussreboots @kate
What do I mean by "Creatives"? I think it's a broader umbrella term, embracing not just artisans, but artists, writers, musicians/composers and so on. People who create, who imagine and take their imagination and give it form.
Show threadSarah SammisNov 3
@kerravonsen @kate Sure. That's the ideal take. Unfortunately people ... even creative people ... can be putzes.
Show threadKerr Avonsen (she/her)Nov 3

@pussreboots @kate

What's great about the world? People.
What's awful about the world? People.

Show threadKate BowlesNov 3
@kerravonsen @pussreboots Having done some work with a fabulous researcher exploring Australian government policy definitions of creative industry, I like “people who create”. At one level, we all do this (and that’s what’s being celebrated here, I think) which is why I also like de Certeau’s “arts de faire”, the making of our everyday lives.
Show threadInarticulateQuilterNov 3
@kate thank you for sharing such a lovely message; bookmarked it for days when I need an answer to “is it all worth it?”
Show threadKate BowlesNov 3
@inarticulatequilter I love your quilts! Please keep going!
Show threadDashNov 3

@kate Thanks for a timely post.

I've been trying to ease my way back into posting more of this sort of stuff, despite the inner voices telling me "it's not that interesting", a good slice of imposter syndrome and discomfort in my own privilege that lets me play at smallholding on land that doesn't belong to me.

But yes, hope is to be found in the doing and in the knowledge sharing.