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Conversation Heart Caterpillars • February 1st, 2017

This Wednesday, February 1st, 2017 from 9pm until midnight (or later) it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Sno S’more Character! 
$3 Donation Please 
$4 Drink specials! Akbar: Living Unboring! 

Today I’m just gonna write something that CNN, The NY Times, The Washington Post, Reuters, NPR, or the Wall Street Journal didn’t. You can read this, and know that it’s got nothing to do with all those other things you might’ve been scrolling with red worried eyeballs for the last week and a half. Far from sticking my head in the sand about current events, there is such a thing as burnout, so last week and this week, we’re having mellow self care craft projects for our CraftNights.

It’s going to be Valentines Day soon, and on the 8th (see below) we’re going to do some political Craftivism, so I thought you might want this week for some mellow “Conversation Caterpillar” time. It comes with conversation hearts, hence it’s provocative name. Whether it’s fake or real or invented by Hallmark or wolves or corporations or nuns, Valentine’s Day is a holiday about LOVE so who cares where it came from! Get out of your own way and make a keepsake for someone cool, like the hat-wearing burrito lady, or the polite mumbly dude who always sells you your daily coffee beverage.

I don’t care if they think you’re in love with them when you’re not, just skip away emphatically if they try to smooch you. There are people suffering from far more things than drudgery in this world, if you can make just one person feel special, treated with respect, and like they matter… that’s just the thing that can fuel the momentum to help a person gain the vim and vigor to go do the things they’ve got to do.

A Conversation Caterpillar, (though it may fill you with anxiety for fear of causing inundation with a human being that might try to become your life partner after receiving one from you) is an opportunity to let other people sharing the earth with you know that they are valued and appreciated. We need more of that, and less selfish churlish bloviating.

This craft may have parts that are a genuine pain-in-the-ass to glue together, it might take awhile for parts to dry. This is good, because your irritation will be about that and not about other external factors swirling around in your periphery. Working out frustrations on a craft will enable you to focus on getting a good night’s sleep, and then you’ll wake up, and go kick some ass the next day.

See you at the Craft Table,

JP Craft Captain


Upcoming Craftivism:

February 8th: The Annual CraftNIght Love-In!!! Help send valentines to Jerry Brown and other politicians fighting for the issues we care about, and also help us send Mike Pence some really kinky sexy valentines that are really glittery and queer!

April: Protest Poster Painting Party #2 where we prepare for the TAX DAY MARCH.


MORE Things: 

FEBRUARY 8th: CRUISE at The Eagle – Just down the street from Akbar and CraftNight is another watering hole you’ll want to visit! There’ll be lip-syncing contest hosted by Tony Soto • Spankings and play from Backroom Mistresses, Bootblackers, DJ tunes, maybe take your bartender a Conversation Caterpillar made at CraftNight!  >>>Facebook Link

FEBRUARY 10th: QUEER PROM at the Sweat Spot! – We could all use a little more LOVE right about now given the current political climate and walking into an unknown future. Join us at Queer Prom to raise spirits, glasses & money for a local charity we will choose as a community. $15 Tickets
Tickets available at: http://queerpromla.brownpapertickets.com/

FEBRUARY 23rd: sSISTERSs: An Experimental Musical – A new punk musical about three sisters who may or may not be witches. Trapped in the drawing room of an old Victorian house, they take on famous triads in a psychedelic, stream-of-consciousness trip through time that explores shifting ideas of sisterhood. Who gets to be seen as a sister, and why? With a live band, haunting three-part harmonies, and throwbacks to the secret rituals of girlhood, sSISTERSs explores memory, family, mortality, queer feminist identity, and the struggles of being a woman artist.
Written and Directed by Gina YoungFacebook Link! 

 

Posted by on February 1, 2017 in Assembly Craft, EZ Craft

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Wooden Bead Jewelry Necklaces • January 13th, 2016

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Wednesday, Jan 13th, 2015 from 9pm until midnight (or later) at Akbar, it’s CRAFTNIGHT!!!
Project: Wooden Bead Jewelry Necklaces
$3 Processing fee, please
$4 Drink Specials at Akbar: Tastes great, less filling!   

Last week we fused our intentions with fusion beads. There’s nothing like heated plastic to make you feel accomplished and ready for 2016! Now we’re up for another Wednesday, and it’s time to make wooden bead necklaces that you paint yourself. This is a pretty straightforward craft, there are beads here in many shapes and sizes, some of them rounder, some of them more flat, there are many different kinds. They are raw wood, which means, if you want to sass them up, you’ve got to paint them! Lucky for you, we do have paint, and brushes, and all the stuff you need to create the color scheme you want for your bead necklace.

To paint a bead is to have a moment. Crafting is designed to slow you down and make you contemplate those everyday things you might not notice: a new pair of socks, a cup of tea that is the perfect temperature, the perfect fluffy brilliance of some clouds you noticed when you were walking into the grocery store. The minutia of life particles that pass you by can be forgotten so easily, this bead-painting journey I’m offering is an opportunity to pay attention to some life. Paint a bead that reminds of you of your dish soap. Paint a bead that reminds you of the friend that wrote you a poignant email. Paint a bead that resembles the weird overpriced teddy bear you saw at a department store.

Paint a story, paint your truth and then wear your truth. You have a lot of stuff going on, and it’s all interesting and weird and ghastly and meaningful and a goddamn gift, that’s right. And if someone asks you about the trippy beads you’re wearing that you painted yourself, you can look them square in the eye and say “This one reminds me of an overpriced teddy bear I saw” and they’ll say “OMG what?” next thing you know, the two of you are talking, and we have HUMAN CONNECTION. Or… they think you are a total crackpot and they steer clear of you forever and that, my friend, is also a gift, that’s right.

Share some paint, share some beads, share your stories, share despair, triumph, hopes, and dreams. It’s at CraftNight, waiting for you, a little Wednesday thing.

See you at the Craft Table!

JP Craft Captain

JANUARY’S GOT THE GOODS  

January 20th – It’s DIY Magnets EXTREME, a custom curiosity explored by you and everyone who joins us!

January 26th BINGO: Tuesday 8pm to 10pm it’s Bet Yer Bottom Bingo with the big bad prizes you’ve come to love us for, so come on in and try your luck with booze, girls, boys, balls, it’s the best in neighborhood gay bar gambling!

January 27th – Groundhog Day Paper Dolls

February – Get ready for Mardi Gras, CraftNight’s Valentine LOVE-IN Party, and Chinese New Year! 

 

 

Posted by on January 11, 2016 in Assembly Craft, Painting Craft

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