So far, I've been focused on telling the stories of each of our wonderful Mending Migration hosts. This week, I thought I'd add a little ramble about what it's been like on our end -- as well as give a bird's-eye view and recap of all the hosts you've met so far!
Like Calliope 😍
Last month, we also met "Less Despair More Repair" Lara, nature-weaving Rachel, and community mending leader Sharon!
Visible mending is all about community (and experimenting, and creative problem solving, and so many good good things). It's such a privilege to so easily access and build community across seas, mountains, and (other) borders thanks to the internet. I wanted to tap deeper into that connection, to remember the immensely tactile and communal experience of mending and all of its dimensions that Instagram, in its eternally connected yet so atomized nature, could never capture. But how?
I'd had a couple of people reach out via Instagram or TikTok & ask if they could borrow a loom for a pseudo influencer-marketing thing, but it didn't quite feel right. Some sort of idea spent a long while rolling around in my head, but it wasn't until I found the Travelling Loom blog series by The Unusual Pear that this project really took shape. Rainie also makes looms as part of her business (now called Lupy Lane) and in 2022 sent her mini weaving kit around to a whole range of fibre artists in her community:
"The idea of this blog is to offer the readers a look into the creative experiences of various fibre artists using the same loom and tools and to provide inspiration for emerging weavers."
Bam. There it was. I felt a little touchy about copying Rainie's idea, but she was super happy to have inspired us and gave the Mending Migration her full blessing.
I highly recommend that you check out the Travelling Loom Blog. There are ten posts in the series and I enjoyed every one - but my highlights I'd love to note are this one on tapestry & embroidery by Kristin Carter (no surprise why, if you click through) and this reflection/guide regarding colour and texture by Shan Chin. I love the narrative flow of each blog post and how you can hear the author's voice and life shine through, which to be honest isn't something I feel like I've accomplished (yet) in this series. But hopefully we'll get into a better flow as it continues :)
The full kit that we send with the Mending Migration is based on our Darning and Weaving Bundle with a few extra flourishes.
Passport - for each host to document their experience and note their location, as a record of all the loom's worldwide adventures.
Zippered pouch - as a place to contain any samples, patches, yarn and other souvenirs the loom collects along the way. Some hosts have left special yarn or fabric for the next person to use in their mending, which is such a lovely way of building that tangible connection between participants.
Once again sending my gratitude to everyone who has participated in this worldwide mending project. If you'd like to sign up and join us, you can fill out this Google form. Queue is determined geographically and based on your application, rather than FCFS. I'll be reaching out to the next round of participants within the next few weeks!