The turn in the weather here in Bend initiates a switch in my brain to focus on some of the inside passions I’ve been neglecting. The crisp air, the sudden deluge of rain, the yellow-orange sumac leaves in my yard get me thinking about texture, color & design.
Last week, with a mug of mint tea in hand, I logged onto my laptop and began scrolling through my Pinterest “boards.” Although I don’t have a TV, nor a cell phone, I do love my internet.
I started with texture as my first “board” on Pinterest, a place where I store images I’ve snatched from others that inspire the sense of touch. Another topic in my collection is color, storage for visually vibrant pictures, and a third “board” focuses on positive and negative space. I use these virtual “boards” to gather and hold inspiration. I also “pin” fashion. Dresses, details, rubbish, all of it. 
Access to inspiration has skyrocketed with the Internet offering instant gratification. It’s transformed my process. However, I did just buy a massive fashion magazine. There’s something about flipping through the glossy pages, cutting my fingers, and the perfume sneezes that make me smile.
The last few evenings after work I’ve been down in my sewing cavern, a mug of hot tea on the shelf, an audio book playing in the background, my Pinterest “boards” open, exploring materials, shapes, color and design. Getting inspired. 
This week we solidified the date for this year’s Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show – December 6th! With this in place, my trash-fashion-sense soared. Suddenly surrounded by bicycle tubes, discarded zippers, old tape measures, and metal screen scraps . . . I can’t stop thinking about new designs.
Then today, in my inbox, I received an invite for a Trash-Fashion Show this Sunday in my old “home town,” Lopez Island. Check out the poster. Here’s to hoping some of you can make it, but if not, I’ll post some inspirational photos next week.
Lopez Island is a role model in sustainability. Whether keeping items out of the landfill or recycle bin, enriching the community with local food, providing access to housing, or teaching students about sustainable farming, Lopez, you’re the best!
Plastic Obama campaign signs
I love Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show because it provides an outlet for my quirky passion – making fashion out of unconventional materials, what others might call trash. My obsession started when, at 8, I wove a shirt out of a hodgepodge of found items: dried grass, scraps of yarn, and carded wool from my mom’s spinning basket. After that I was hooked.
The draw of trash-fashion comes from the materials themselves. When I design, I start with the item, like old slides and film. With the demise of film cameras, my cupboard is filled with boxes of 2nds (the slides that didn’t make the final show cut, but are still “good”). The question arises – what could I do with them? Make a dress of course.
Then the thrill begins. I secretly sketch on napkins at restaurants, programs at lectures, and junk mail envelopes. I ponder how a series of hard squares might fit together on the human form, and how to attach them. This creates months, maybe years of thrilling design time.
Finally the construction process begins. For me it’s like rock climbing – a series of problems in front of me, some that seem impossible at first, but with patience and tenacity, in the end, I usually prevail.
Don’t miss the Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show tomorrow night and see “Please don’t Take my Kodachrome Away,” by me (Karen Holm) and other artists renditions of their quirky passions.
Rubbish Renewed Eco Fashion Show 