I’m starting a new series of blog posts here on She’s Crafty. I’ve realized, in my crafty endeavours, that there are women out there who do amazing, beautiful, fun and seriously cool crafts and that I should give praise where praise is due. So, here’s the Crafter of the Month for August (henceforth to be referred to as COTM wherever possible, because Crafter of the Month takes up a lot of room).
Kalpna Patel is a 28-year-old Torontonian whose blog, Ghostface Knittah, has given me (and I’m sure thousands of others) hours of enjoyment. She can do amazing things with a ball of yarn, but she also has a soft spot for metalwork, sewing, paper crafts and hand-lettering and illustration. She is also the proud owner of the Labour Day Project — a different project every week for an entire year. I caught up with her this week to ask a few questions, and, let’s be honest, her answers made me want to hang out with her just to soak up some of her incredible crafty powers.
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Kalpna, tell me about your Labour Day project.
The Labour Day Project started on the Labour Day weekend of 2008. It’s really just a way to get myself to finish all the projects I had started and abandoned over the years, and also to be a bit more active in actually getting all the things on my crafty to-do list done, whether that means making something I’ve only ever dreamt of making, or learning/teaching myself a new skill or technique. By formalizing this into a year-long project – where I post my progress every week (no matter how badly it turns out) – my crafty dreams turn into assignments, and (being kinda studious myself) I feel much more motivated and compelled to work on them. Also, the goal to finish or at least try something new each week ensures that I make time for craftiness and creativity no matter how busy life gets, and that some kind of low-fi, hands-on activity remains an important part of my daily life. I started it last Fall because even though I’m no longer a student (and haven’t been for a number of years now!), September always feels like the start of something new. It’s when I’m most excited and charged to do things, so I thought it would be appropriate to use Labour Day as the starting point for a project that would see me through the dreariness of November, and gain momentum as the year chugged along. Ideally, in a few weeks when Labour Day 2009 rolls around, I will have made 52 of my DIY dreams come true.
What are your favourite crafts from the Labour Day project?
My favourite projects from the Labour Day Project aren’t necessarily the ones that turned out looking the best, but the ones that either involved the use of supplies I’d been hoarding for years, had the biggest learning curve, or the ones that required the most motivation or stamina. For instance, last winter my Week 22 project was a batch of Valentine’s Day postcards I made out of those sleazy, bodice-ripping inserts that come inside romance novels (inserts that I had collected well over ten years ago, and never got around to using for anything).
Kalpna's hilarious valentines (I LOVE this!)
One of my earliest projects was an adventure in silkscreen printing – the results weren’t so great (I made a lot of mistakes), but it was something I had never tried before, and something that required a lot of planning and patience – two things I’m not particularly good at, so it was probably the most challenging of all the projects so far.
Kalpna's silk-screened bookbags
The most memorable project (and the one that spanned over many weeks) is probably last summer’s Bear-a-thon – somehow I started crocheting little teddy bears and found I couldn’t stop. Luckily, I was invited to participate in the Kids Trunk Show at The Workroom, which served as the perfect outlet for my overwhelming urge. In preparing for the show, I found myself crocheting almost every waking moment of the day! It was the first time I tried to make so many similar things in a short amount of time, and the whole experience gave me a pretty good idea of what life would be like if I was a full-time crafter. I could totally see myself making teddy bears for a living.
Marie and Marcel -- two of Kalpna's bears
You sell your crafts under the name Old Weston. Where did you get the name?
Old Weston, the name I chose for my tiny little business, is the name of the street I live on. Old Weston Road has been my home for over twenty years and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. But even I can admit that it’s not a very pretty street – it’s very busy, there’s a lot of traffic, and no green space at all. Finding beauty and inspiration on my block was and is no easy task, and I think spending so much time in this very urban setting is what caused my hypersensitivity to the natural world and the small, natural wonders – twigs, acorns, etc. – that are the subject of most of my work. I don’t encounter much of the natural world in my everyday life, so whenever I do come across them, my attraction to and appreciation of them is that much more amplified. Old Weston reminds me that beauty, wonder and creativity can be found and cultivated anywhere, so long as you look hard and want it badly enough. Ghostface Knittah, on the other hand, is my blog persona. It’s of course a play on Ghostface Killah, my favourite member of the Wu-Tang Clan – and represents an attempt at bringing together crafts and rap, two of my worldly pleasures.
Kalpna's acorn cluster necklace
What’s your workspace like?
My workspace is generally wherever I can find room! I tend to sew on my dining table, knitting and crocheting often happens on the couch, anything involving metal is done on a small work table in my basement, and everything else is done in my bedroom. I’m messy only when I’m working on something, but all of my supplies are extremely organized when they’re not in use. For someone as impatient as I am you’d think my space would be a disaster, but I’ve found that if I have to search for a particular kind of glue or if I can’t find my embroidery scissors, I won’t go to the trouble of looking for them. Everything needs to be within reach so I try to be organized so I can spend as much time doing and less time preparing.
And finally, where do you sell your crafts?
For the past couple of years I’ve been selling my wares at various craft shows in Toronto – Trunk Shows at The Workroom, and the annual City of Craft show in the winter. I don’t drive, so I’m limited to shows that are a short cab ride away, or that I can get myself (and all my stuff) to on the streetcar! Some great local businesses have been gracious enough to stock my work so some of my things can be found at Kid Icarus in Kensington Market as well as at Nathalie-Roze & Company in Leslieville. I’m currently working on setting up my Etsy store, but for now I’m quite happy setting up shop around the city.
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AMAZING! She’s amazing! Thanks, Kalpna, for great answers and for sharing your pictures.
Are YOU or a friend a possible Crafter of the Month? Send me a message! You could be HERE, on this page, in September!
