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What should I pack for a doof? (festival)

Firstly, don’t panic. You will forget something. Everyone does.. but there will be 100s or 1000s of new friends who will be able to help you out if your best buds have forgotten theirs too.

Secondly, this list assumes you can drive right up to your campsite (rather than having to lug everything from your car). If that’s the case, halve everything below (at least).

So, without further ado.. my list of things you need to pack:

Festival ticket (duh.. but it does happen), vehicle pass, and ID

Cash (even if you know there will be an ATM onsite.. just in case)

All your gorgeous festival/doof wear like these sacred geometry clothes or some mushroom or bee design action…

Plus all your fabulous costumes like doof-fairy-wings ; your UV glow-wear and el-wire light up stuff that flashes in time to the music for the dancefloor

Doof stick if you wanna

Spray bottle for the dancefloor or misting fan

If you have the talent: twirling stuff, hoops, drum etc

Remember to pack clothing to layer from camisoles/tank tops to scarfs and jeans.  A hoodie can be a fabulous investment to stay warm at night

Pack to cover all weather outcomes (yes, that means rain, mud, frost, or boiling sunshine). Comfy shoes are an absolute must!

And lastly, a hat and sunnies completes every look

Tent and shadecloths etc

Sleeping bag and mattress and pillow (it’s always the one I forget)

Esky, ice, food, water, snacks, alcohol (remember that most festivals have a no glass policy so decant into plastic and label everything really really well). If you want to pre-prepare some meals, check out my other post on this.

Camp chair or maybe some cool blow up loungers or a hammock if the terrain allows. Just remember to weight your blow up stuff down so it doesn’t escape.

Table

Cooking and eating gear if you’re allowed (just be sure to check it’s not a total fireban). You can actually eat reasonably well even if all you are allowed to have is one of those dip the coils in the water coffee heater things that plug into your car cigarette lighter.. see meals blog post mentioned above.

Some form of decoration for your campsite (flag, bunting, solar fairy lights) so you can find it again (but try not to decapitate anyone with your bunting or tape). Try to go with solar-powered rather than battery powered (for the sake of the environment).

Ipod dock or small music player for campsite (so long as it doesn’t interfere with other campers)

Garbage bags for the campsite (leave no trace)

Reusable water bottle

Toilet roll

Sunscreen

Insect repellent

Toiletries, including the obligatory lots of wet wipes and dry shampoo, as well as a good supply of hand sanitiser, makeup remover (especially if you’ll be wearing glitter) and deodorant. Ear plugs and eye masks are also nice to have as well as hydralites which you can make yourself.

Any medications you might need plus a first aid kit (at least take the ibuprofen and bandaids, but consider also multivitamins, aloe vera, stingoes or lavender oil for bites, baby powder ~ no one likes chafing ~ and eye drops if it’s dusty). If you are single and ready to mingle, don’t forget the condoms & lube… and try not to make too much noise if your tent is next to mine 😉

Torch (and spare batteries for longer festivals) or head-torce, or even an el-wire hat?

Extra phone battery or re-charger

Book and pen (for the workshops or you might just want to write down any thoughts that come to you over the weekend) 😉

You might also like to pack a small bag for the drive home too, with some warm clean clothes, some relaxing tunes (to keep you all happy in the line up for the gate), some water and some snacks.

Have fun!

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Simple upcycled gifts for an ethical festive season

There are literally THOUSANDS of ideas out there for upcycled gifts you can make for your loved ones this festive season..  so I’m going to just suggest some broad categories, and then focus a bit more on advice for upcycled clothing-related gifts.

Bottle / jar ideas
* Fill jars with homemade sweets, cookies, candles or make a ‘snow globe’ scene. Add ribbons, bows, and maybe a square of cute fabric over the top for an instant upcycled gift.
* For bottles, maybe homemade cordial, or reuse nicely shaped wine bottles as a lighting feature by adding fairy lights to them… carefully drill a hole in the back for the wire to exit if they will be plugged in, or use fairy lights with a small battery pack (that will fit in the bottle).

Cutlery ideas
* Hang straightened cutlery (knives, forks, spoons) as a novel windchime, with some beads or bells, or jewellery items.
* Bend forks or spoons into interesting hooks, affix to a wooden board, and it’s ready to hang at someone you love’s place to collect coats, hats, keys, or umbrellas.. whatever needs hanging.

Crockery ideas
* Cups and saucers are perfect for neat little cacti or other plants, just remember to drill some drainage holes first, or add melted wax and a candle wick for a cute candle, or add a picture or saying for your loved one in the bottom of the cup in ceramic or glass paint.
* Plates can also be used for mosaic crafts, or painted as wall art, or perhaps cut up for jewellery squares or circles.

Book and magazine ideas
* Cut into strips, and wind strips into round circles. Glue together circles to form coasters, or jewellery, or form into a fruit bowl? Strips can also be woven together into a basket shape, or used in paper mache, or in cards.
*Book pages can be folded and cut in a range of decorative ways, or cut out, painted, stamped or framed. Consider making origami ornaments from printed books for an interesting festive season decoration!

Clothing ideas
* Sew together tea towels, pillow cases, or old tshirts to make a cosy homemade quilt or throw.
* Denim material can be cut into a range of shapes and used as earrings (starch or a gloss spray paint can be used to make the fabric stiff if required).
* Give old tshirts a lift by adding paint, dye (tie-dye?) or by bleaching. Consider an ombre bleach dip by holding tshirt from either the top or bottom and lowering just part of the garment into bleach before incrementally adding more and more of the tshirt into the bleach. Wash promptly as prolonged contact with bleach can make the garment tear easily.
* Make a template using an old sticker, stick it to the tshirt and, combining bleach and water in a spray bottle, spray lightly around the template before carefully washing the bleached area in cold water. Remove the sticker once the bleach is washed off the rest of the garment.
* Consider making a circular cotton lace tablecloth into a funky skirt by adding a waist-hole in the middle (perhaps with a zip? or just add elastic) and then tie-dying bright colours (follow the instructions on the dyes).
* Make flannel shirts into wheatpacks by making into small pillows, fill with wheat, and give instructions for how to heat safely in the microwave.

Anyway, enjoy making and sharing your DIY upcycled gifts this festive season, and feel free to contact me to show me what you made!

Season’s greetings from SoleFeather!

Main photo by EVG photos from Pexels. Birdie tee photo from SoleFeather

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So what is upcycling?

According to Wikipedia, upcycling, also known as creative reuse, is the process of transforming unwanted or useless products, waste materials, and by-products into new materials or products of better quality or for better environmental value.

Upcycling typically either uses materials produced while items are being manufactured (pre-consumer waste) or finished items that are no longer wanted, such as that tshirt that doesn’t fit any more (post-consumer waste). Or both.  It reuses materials that would otherwise end up in landfill – producing creative and original, often one-of-a-kind, items from what many consider to be waste.

So, isn’t that recycling? Sort of. Generally recycling means breaking a product down to its component parts. SoleFeather actually does a bit of both, creating new dancefloor favourites by modifying existing garments from a little to a lot, as well as using fabric, bedding, and other materials from secondhand or op shops as well as sustainable fabric sources (e.g. remnant or deadstock supply) to make new garments from. Where possible, all of the materials used on an item for sale are reused, recycled, upcycled or ethically/sustainably sourced.

Why?
1. Because the doof culture is all about leave no trace, and I want to do my part to extend this back into mainstream society.
2. Because it’s a creative challenge to take something that exists and modify it in a way that improves it without using too many resources in the process.       3. Because shopping at op shops and other sustainable fabric sources can be a lot of fun, and often a bit of a surprise!

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Why is sacred geometry ‘sacred’?

Look outside of the secular mathematics you were taught in school. Mankind, in looking at nature around him/her, can’t help but notice patterns in the way plants and flowers grow… the way birds fly… the proportions of the universe.. there are so many universal patterns and mathematical ratios that describe those natural designs which seem most pleasing to our aesthetics.
Continue reading “Why is sacred geometry ‘sacred’?”