Plastic Fusing Workshop in Sahab

I was given the chance to take part in a workshop in Sahab through Tatawor, an NGO that addresses the needs of women and youngsters by organizing activities to their development, the women were very excited and eager to learn, they learned to fuse plastic bags to create a fabric-like material which will help them use it to make all sorts of products such as purses, bookmarks, shade lamps and coasters.

The main reason why i'm excited about this area in particular is because Sahab is an industrial zone and by linking the women with the factories to re-use their waste and make art and handicrafts a lot of opportunities will be created on a social and environmental level, only the idea of this is making me very happy and excited, it's much easier to teach re-using in an area that actually consumes rather than villages where waste is not that much of a problem as in cities.

lamp shade tells it's own story

i haven't been blogging at all lately, mainly because i'm a very lazy person when it comes to self promotion (sometimes) but here you g..

I got an old book and i tore it apart, i know that a lot of people will criticize me for this, it's a book after all, i should read it not tear it apart, but really who am i to stop my creativity from acting out and being it's crazy self? i choose to believe that this lamp shade will tell it's own story in a different way, people's reactions when they see it light up is enough to bring so much joy to me that i don't think an old love story that always ends the same will do the same thing for me. so forgive me :)

Upcycling in Tafileh already exists

I asked myself today if starting a project that has to do with upcycling or re-using or really anything environmental in a village is a good idea or at least the way I'm approaching it.

First of all people in these areas don't consume products as much as people who live in cities do because of the lack of resources. for example i'm teaching these women to make lamps from milk and juice boxes when they don't even consume this product the same way we do, they get powdered milk or natural milk, you know from an actual goat. not to mention that they already re-use different materials in their every day life, out of necessity of course or fun (see below picture).

children using a Tupperware cover as a Frisbee

using oil and labaneh containers to plant in them

But when we finished our workshop today, and as usual, they asked me if i will spray the lamp with spray paint which is the opposite of the point of this workshop, i was a little frustrated to be honest, this community is so simple but yet they want shiny things that look luxurious, as one of the women told me today, I told them that this product will be sold in Amman, but the reason of my frustration is that i don't want to force women to make something they don't relate to, i want them to be part of this whole process, the other reason of my frustration is that in the past these women used to make beautiful things that are made from natural materials found in their village such as straw that comes from growing wheat but now they no longer use it, they use imported materials that are not natural instead.

progress with the milk box side lamp

The day was less positive than it was yesterday since they were all fasting but then one of the women showed me something her mother made, it was a bag of rice that she embroidered and turned into a handbag they also make prayer mats out of them, i can't begin to explain the amount excitement i felt.. this product is exactly what i want!! something that has a cultural and environmental aspect and is also handmade and artistic, when they saw how excited i was they started to list items they make from re-using materials. I think this is were i should start, instead of teaching them how to make my products, i will learn about what they make and try to develop it a little.

Rice bag turned into handbag with embroidery patterns from the area

the more i think about this project the more i realize how much effort and time it needs, not to mention patience, money and trying to find middle ground between my ideas and their willingness and excitement to make them happen.

Moving south

About four years ago all i knew about Jordan was the Dead sea, Aqaba, Petra and Wadi Rum, simply because the transportation was easier, either going with friends or taking a bus from a private company, I never really made any effort to know anything else about my country, it was until 2008 when my life was turned around that i realized i'm just existing in this place and not really living, all i cared about, like many Ammanis, was to go out with friends or dance all night but somehow this life was not exciting anymore, i needed a challenge.

Two years ago i started volunteering in a village in Tafileh called Qadesyeh teaching women how to make products from re-using different materials. i don't know why i chose this place, i think i've always been affected by the south, positively and negatively, since my mother is from Aqaba or maybe i want to empower women since they have little opportunities to work, they depend on their husbands for income, the husbands on the other hand either depend on the government like working for the army or they work in the cement factory which was sold to a french company called Lafarge. after it was bought, half of the men working there lost their jobs because the company decided to downsize leaving a lot of people without an income which wasn't much in the first place (100-150 JDs a month).

Cement from the french company Lafarge

i don't know if those are the reasons for me to take on this challenge, i think the main reason is trying to find myself, i don't even know if i will be able to help those people. If i wasn't able to help them financially i hope i will be able to give them a skill they can use in the future.

So i spent the past year trying to make as much money as i can to come back here and continue my project, i think i will still need financial support but at least i have some money to help me get started.

I arrived yesterday after spending three hours waiting for the bus to leave Amman because it has to be full before it moves, then another three hours on the road, after i arrived to Tafileh i took another bus but by the time i arrived to Qadesyeh it was too late for me to meet the women so i hitchhiked to Dana to spend the night there. i realized then that i don't have a table for my workshop where i'm going to teach the day after so i went back to a Qadesyeh scrap to find an old table but couldn't find a table with legs they were all broken so i went back to Dana and managed to get a table through some connections which brings me to today's workshop.

The scrap

The scrap

I decided to start with my milk and juice box side lamp, i took the bus to Qadesyeh but i had this feeling i used to get on the first day of school, ironically today is the first day of school. i think anything that has to do with learning or teaching always makes me depressed because i link it to my school days.

I arrived and started teaching them how to make the lamp, at first it went smoothly but then they started to lose patience, i usually give up at this point because i really hate teaching anything but i kept going and things started to get much better, we made all the pieces and tomorrow we're going to attach them together to create our very first shade lamp :)

eight women, three hours, a lot of patience and i feel really satisfied for the day :) but i still have a very long way to go.

to see how the side lamp will look like: http://www.myupcycledlife.blogspot.com/2011/10/juice-box-lamps.html

Turtle Green Tree

40 old t-shirts, 27 plastic bags a lot of carboard and 3 months later a tree was made in Turtle Green Tea Bar..

To be honest i had no idea what to do at first, the idea of making something in front of people was new to me, i always create things at the comfort of my own home, i also never made something that is twice my size so i wasn't very comfortable at first because people were coming to me and asking me what i was doing, all i knew was that i want to make something look organic using three materials: t-shirts, plastic bags and cardboard. I'm also a big fan of traditional handicrafts so i wanted to create something that will show people that traditional handicrafts is something to be appreciated artistically it's not only something that our grandmothers used to do.

I don't know what i mean by this installation, like everything i do, i never have an idea of something i just follow whatever visuals that come to my mind and i create them, sometimes they change in the process but i think everyone can interpret it in their own way.

All i know is that when i finished it and sat under it, i felt an amazing feeling of peace and quiet and it felt really good that after weeks of crocheting, sewing, ironing,cutting and climbing the ladder(although I'm terrified of heights) it all paid off! to me at least :)

T-shirts cut into strips

the first few branches

Adding plastic bag leaves

Cutting the cardboard into boxes

creating the boxes

Installing the lighting

 

Almost done

 

Lights on

 

Juice box lamps

photo taken by photographer Mohammad Dawwas

photo taken by photographer Mohammad Dawwas

photo taken by photographer Mohammad Dawwas

Upcycled Chess Board

This is one of my favorite pieces, i used soda cans to make the base of the chess board and i used random pieces of metal that i found to make the chess pieces

 

Quality Street clocks

remember those? i'm in love with the first one, i was thinking that it would be a great gift if i fill it with the quality street chocolates, so that after people eat all the chocolates they can hang it on their wall.