Flotsam as Metaphor

I certainly do not profess to put my work on par with fiber artist Sheila Hicks, but I was amused when I came across these recent images of hers and their compatibility with my fiber flotsam experiments. Her 'Ringlets' (Paris, 1993) - constructed out of colored rubber bands and paper clips is a definite favorite of mine.

Chatelaine Fiber Chain

My artist friend Brece Honeycutt kindly came out last Saturday to support and participate in my Lower East Side drifting with spun flotsam. She also clued me into the fact that my get up for the day looked somewhat reminiscent of a chatelaine or 19th century "housekeeper's belt".

A chatelaine or 'chain' is a decorative belt hook or clasp worn at the waist with a series of smaller chains suspended from it. Each chain is mounted with a useful household appendage such as scissors, thimble, watch, key, vinaigrette, household seal, etc. In the domestic sphere these implements obviously helped one to navigate the home and always feel 'equipped'. My urban mapping and exploration involved perhaps more impromptu tools - conversation being the principal means of interfacing and connecting. Nonetheless, I am now thinking hard about what my ideal chatelaine might consist of, particularly in this era of environmental sensitivity and heightened awareness.

Street Spinning/Mapping

Remarkable synchronicities and somewhat magical moments occurred during Urban Fiber Flotsam. Jung often (loosely) described 'synchronicity' as being an 'acausal connecting principle'. Archetypes floated into view whether on random street corners, peering into pavement cracks, or as layers to be decoded on plastered alley walls. Drifting can indeed by a very centering experience. It is perhaps the most natural way to truly feel at one with your urban surroundings.

Fiber Flotsam Friends

Stopover at Freeman's Tavern on Chrystie Street

Yesterday's outing on the Lower East Side was brilliant, and I have a lot of folks to thank for helping to make my 'drifting experiment' so anchored. I am in the process of archiving all of the photos and documentation, so please stay tuned for a more comprehensive overview of the tour.

For now, I would like to thank the following collaborators:

The CONFLUX 2008 team and curators
Jill Fehrenbacher and Inhabitat for their support
Meiling Chen for her photography and art direction
Jill Danyelle, creative ecologist and 'remake' inspiration
Brece Honeycutt for her input and spun fleece ideas
Moe Beitiks and Olivia Chen for their writing and editing
Eve Mosher for her encouragement and public works
Purl Soho and Habu Textiles
Ludmil, Jasper, Oliver, and Finn
Dad, a farmer and Mom, a handspinner


Eko-Lab Designer, Meiling Chen

Stopover at The New Museum on the Bowery

Street Spun Fiber (Day One)

ingredients: deflated party balloon, packing tape, chinese food wrapper, dried grasses, found leaves & buds, garment threads, cotton gima, clothing scrap, mohair, angora, and clothing pin - in no specific order

It's All in a Day's Journey

A guild is an association of craftspersons in a particular trade.

Like journey, the distance that could be travelled in a day, the title 'journeyman' derives from the French words for 'day' (jour and journée) from which came the middle English word journei.


Journeymen were generally paid by the day and were thus day laborers. After being employed by a master for several years, and after producing a qualifying piece of work, the apprentice was granted the rank of journeyman and was given documents (letters or certificates from his master and/or the guild itself) which certified him as a journeyman and entitled him to travel to other towns and countries to learn the art from other masters. These journeys could span large parts of Europe and were an unofficial way of communicating new methods and techniques.

Street Specimens

A new archive of urban fiber flotsam specimens is now viewable on flickr/abidoan.

Ragpickers and Historical Urban Fiber

I recently came across this photo while doing research on the history of textiles in lower Manhattan, the Lower East Side specifically. It is a poignant photo of an Italian immigrant woman holding her carefully swaddled baby in her tenement flat on Jersey Street.

Photographed by Jacob Riis, creator of the photographic series, 'How The Other Half Lives' (1891), this image speaks volumes to textiles as a means of survival. Riis was one of the first photographers to use flash, and though viewed to be a muckraker and visual journalist, he was also later criticized for his deprecating views on women and certain ethnic groups.

Urban Fiber Inspiration

17th century linen tassel


The Beauty of Complexity (Hilal Sami Hilal)


Sewing a possible cloud (Jim Hodges)


Vegetation near Laguardia Place