DIY femstral pad
I wrote this post in february 2008 and forgot to publish it haha. whoops. Well I’ve been using homemade cloth pads almost exclusively since then. They are super comfortable, super cheap, not wasteful, and make me happy to be bleeding. Call me whatever you want, but I think it’s fun to bleed on stuff for days without dying. I sewed faces on some of my pads so they look like blood-guzzling monsters.
Anyway, here’s how to make one of your own!
A = the piece that touches your vag
B = the pieces that attach to the back of A
C = the wings that sew onto the sides
Grey Spots = metal snap things
Basically, there are two layers. The bottom layer has a break in the middle where you can slide your padding in. And there are two wings that hug your underpants to keep it all in place.
Materials: Thick cotton, flannel, hemp… anything absorbent. Used cloth is usually the softest and most comfy. You will also want stuff for padding — you can sew up little inserts, or just cut more pieces of scrap fabric. <- a great use for those lonely old single socks. When in a pinch, I just put toilet paper in there.
Instructions: Just sew it together. Don’t forget to leave the opening to slip the filler in.
* don’t wanna make your own? check out etsy.
Entzaubert!!
A video piece of mine will be in the Entzaubert Queer DIY International Film Festival in Berlin this weekend. !!!! It will be shown in the “GALERIII”. The programmers describe the piece as “An exploration of repressed lesbian desire unleashed”! Awesome.
More info here. And check out the full festival program here. It looks amazing and I wanna go so bad but it’s on the other side of the planet!!
diy condom dildos
Basically, you take a condom and fill it with random shit you were gonna throw out, and you got a sweet diy dildo.
Seems like a grand idea, until the condom breaks and you got a vag fulla millet.
website update
I updated my photography website today. There are new photos up in the portfolio, a new artist statement, and a new web address: simply kangabell.com.
Let me know what you think, if you feel like it!
handmade journal
I needed something to write in, and those overpriced packets of paper sewn at the crease that I find in the book stores and art stores depress me. So I made my own journal, darn it.
I used this tutorial, cutting some corners. It’s basically just paper I cut up from a big drawing notepad, sewn together with doubled-up regular thread, pasted into some cardboard covered in a paper bag, and decorated with fancy pink paper.
It even has a little pocket <3
And then I wrote and wrote and wrote.
Why I am Anti-Copyright
I do consider my art to be an extension of my being and therefore my personal property, however I will not use government rule to aid in the acknowledgment of it. I would like to help create a culture in which all art and information are shared freely, not commodified. I do anticipate that I will sell photographs someday, because that shit is expensive to make, but I hope not to exploit anyone else in the process.
And anyway, it is naïve to believe that copyright laws protect artists. They exist to protect the earnings of the corporate entities which profit off of intellectual property. Considering that I am not a corporate entity, and lack any desire of being one, these laws are irrelevant to my art.
Anti-copyright is the liberation of information from the hands of the capitalist. It says This information is yours, is mine, is everyone’s. History, knowledge, and ideas should be shared, not claimed. Take them and use them in whatever way you see fit.
Long live pirates!
New Site!
The new version of my website, kangadbell.com, is now up. I enjoyed making it, and learned a few things in the process. Oh and nearly everything was coded from scratch, in texedit, by me. The one exception is the slideshow which is a free javascript called lightbox.
DIY!
Thanks to Warren, Mass Matt, Rob D, Shark, and anyone else who gave me advice <3
diy femstral pads
BLEED ON!
YEAHHHHHH
Bicycle Tube Wallet
The following are instructions on how to make a sweet wallet out of an old bicycle tube (these are absurdly abundant — bike shops throw em out every day). The trim is made from slacks I found in the dumpster of my apartment complex.
Cut a piece out of the tube, twice as wide as you want it, to be folded in half. Here’s a picture:
Then we sew on some trim, leaving one side open:
Add a few pockets for cards, coins, notes, etc:
…and we’re done! Hooray.
Very snappy.
Dandelions
Since I was young, I’ve always known dandelions as weeds. I never could think of any other weed, and never knew anything about dandelions except that they are weeds, so “dandelion” has always been synonymous with “weed” in my mind. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered that every part of the dandelion is edible to humans. I always thought that dandelions were bad, no good to our species, but yet… we can eat them and they’re actually highly nutritious, apparently. So what is a weed exactly? From my subsequent research, I’ve discovered that a weed is basically a pest, an unwanted species. Something that disrupts the flow of society. Something that gets in the way of the more fancy, high-class flowers we like to decorate our gardens with. Okay, so dandelions actually are not native to North America, so they’re not so great anyhow. But instead of digging them up and discarding them, complaining about what a pain in the ass they are, why not instead eat em all up, enjoy ourselves? Then, maybe replace them with something that actually belongs in our bioregions?
Leaves and unopened buds can be sautéed, steamed, or used in salad.
Roots can be made into a coffee substitute.
Flowers can be sautéed, or boiled down to syrup or jelly.
Matt and I made syrup recently, and I put it on my pancakes this morning. Delicious.
(some more info…)
“Dandelion root is a registered drug in Canada, sold as a diuretic. A leaf decoction can be drunk to “purify the blood”, for the treatment of anemia, jaundice, and also for nervousness. The milky latex has been used as a mosquito repellent; the milk is also applied to warts, helping get rid of them without damaging the surrounding skin. A dye can also be obtained from the roots of the plant. A new mixture of roasted roots is sold as a product called DandyBlend which tastes like coffee after”