Emergency Response Kit's

This post is an edited version of a previous post. It started as an urgent plea for help, now I want to use it to share an awesome story and message.

Between Wednesday the 27 of Jan and Sunday the 31 of Jan I took part in RYLA, the Rotary Youth Leadership Award; a leadership course for young people aged between 18 and 24.

One of our challenges was to be the group to raise the most money over a two hour period, the money would go towards an Emergency Response Kit or E.R.K.




Below is the original post
___________________________________________
"
WE HAVE 2 HOURS ONLY!!!

I am taking part as one of seven partaking in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards from January 27-31.
Rotary NZ has developed and produced Emergency Response Kits (ERKs) to provide essential supplies to emergency effected households in the Pacific.

We in New Zealand are the first response to the Pacific when they are hit by Natural disasters. Rotary provided and delivered 900 to Fiji in 2012 and about the same to Samoa in 2009.

One Emergency Response Kit contains the tools to construct a basic shelter, find food from the land and sea, to allow people to cook and clothe themselves. The empty plastic containers can hold 90L of water. There are 60+ Items.

One E.R.K. costs $600 and we have until 2.35pm to raise as much funds and awareness for these E.R.K.'s as we possibly can so help out team PINK and donate to help out so we can prepare to help those people in need!
Even $1 counts! Sharing this post helps too!

You can donate through the following link:
rnzwcs.org/donate

You can donate via bank transfer or through the Give-a-little page.
PLEASE put the following in your comment:

RYLA 2016 ERK TEAMPINK

Thank you so much for helping towards a great cause!
"
___________________________________________

After making this post my group split off into different parts of Wellington city to raise money any way possible; one of my team members Moni and myself teamed up and went to some workplaces where they sent an email around to all employees. We then found a spot on Cuba St where we based ourselves asking for help from the public in the form of donations and also sharing with them our cause.

What happened next changed my view of people. We had many people who would walk past in a hurry, giving you the cold  shoulder. There were people who would say no and continue on with their day. There were people who would ignore you completely, not willing to spare the time just to say no.
Then there were the others. There was an incredible outpouring of generosity from all sorts of different people. Some of them would search the bottom of their wallets for any shrapnel they had, some would quite willingly give a $5, $10, or $20 dollar note. I approached one man who was a beneficiary who spent his evenings in a night shelter for the homeless, he gave me a dollar.
A lot of people honestly had no money to give, but would stop and talk to us; two Fijian ladies asked for more information in the form of an email address and a donations website so that they could then share with their Fijian social group our cause and see if anyone there would donate. One man had no coin to spare but was busy taking photos of the city. He took our photo and gave us his card, we then sent him some information about our cause and he in turn sent us the photo.

This was a very hard challenge for me to do as I absolutely hate asking people for money, but I really appreciated the diversity of people that I encountered. Whether or not they donated or not I appreciated that most people were willing to listen to me.

The E.R.K.'s are an awesome tool. By preparing them in a warehouse in NZ ready to deploy if a disaster does occur somewhere in the pacific we can be ready straight away to help out our pacific island neighbours. New Zealand is a nation of power and responsibility. It is our responsibility to help our neighbours in a crisis.
The link is still live; you can still donate, so if you have a few dollars to spare please thinking of sharing it with this cause. Thank you.
rnzwcs.org/donate

Making Rat Traps

Between the 2nd and the 14th of January I dedicated myself to helping out at Venture Inferno. For those who don't know, a Venture is a 10 day camp for Venturers or 'older scouts' (14-18 yr olds).
The venture is split into two phases:
Phase One - five days when you go on an expedition of your own choosing,

Phase Two - five days on site at the main camp with a variety of activities on offer including a party each night.

Inferno was the theme of this years Venture. It was based in Rotorua, and offered a very action packed programme.

For Phase One I helped as a line leader, my job was to look after nine venturers. Our expedition of 80 people were set at Waitomo where we did three days of caving among other activities.

For Phase Two I offered my help at the hands on base, a marquee full of hands on activities ranging from making bracelets, decorating mugs, making nail wire art, and of course making Rat Traps.

We had a couple of piles of wood and a few rolls of steel mesh; some screws and staples; and some hammers and drills. The basis of the trap.

Someone had kindly setup some example traps showing the method of making it in four easy steps.

Step 1. Get first piece of wood, the base, staple one piece of mesh to it about 100mm from the front.
Step 2, Using the drill/driver screw the base piece to the two other pieces of wood to create the boxes sides, staple the mesh to the two added sides.
Step 3, Get two wooden studs and screw them into the top corners of box to hold the trap in place.
Step 4, Cut a hole in one of the bottom corners of the mesh. Cover both ends of the box with more mesh. cut a hole in the front mesh in the opposite bottom corner.
Done.

It took a little bit of time to make my first trap, but as I continued, the process got faster and faster. More people joined and I was able to teach, observe, learn, and adapt my methods. I found that cutting the mesh was the hardest, most tiresome part, so I would work at that so the venturers could get on with the more fun construction part. The mesh was also quite sharp so when handling it you had to take care. It was encouraged that any sharp ends be cut off so that when using the trap the person doesn't cut themselves. We also learned to use any left over bits of mesh too to make the most of the resources that we had.

On the third day Didymo Dave came to help out, he was the one who organized the supplies and would be using the traps to control pests on the Waitahanui River. As well as refining the trap making process he also educated us on the traps and their use. Although we call them rat traps the traps would be used for not only rats, but also ferrets, weasels, and stoats. all rodents that kill our native birds for food or just for fun. The traps are made with the holes cut in the mesh on opposite corners to prevent kiwi from getting its beak inside and snapped off in a trap.

Didymo Dave also encouraged us to write a message on our box to the pests that would be caught within. One creative venturer wrote 'Dear Rodents, Gluttony is a deadly sin'.

Over the course of  four days I have gone from not knowing how to build a rat trap to not only building around twenty of them, but teaching others how to make them, empowering people who usually wouldn't give something like this ago, and allowing them to do it themselves and leave feeling that they have made a positive contribution to the native bird life of New Zealand.

Below is a link to Didymo Dave's facebook page, here you can find out more about the pest control along the Waitahanui River.
Rat Traps made with Didymo Dave

Fixing a bag into my sewing kit.

This was a cool little project, not a difficult one but one that took some time to do.

It started at a party that was held at our place around four years ago; an unknown girl came along and dropped her bag in the bathroom, leaving it there without any indication of who she was we decided to hold onto it just in case she came back for it.

Inside the bag was a couple of coins and a key. Not much to go on, We never heard from this mysterious person again.

On occasion I have taken the bag out and  thought about how it could be of use. My girlfriend tried to use it as a going out bag once or twice, but we realized that the stitching that held it together was breaking.



Recently I've looked a the bag again and seen that it is actually a fairly old leather bag. the stitching looks like the original stitching and is only just getting old enough to break with the pressure of holding it together.



On the inside is a pocket made not of the original leather, and not sewn on, rather, just super glued on.

Upon looking exploring the properties of the bag I came up with a use; I would turn it into my sewing bag. Starting by removing the strap, I will be sewing this to my camp blanket when I get the chance.

For those of you who do not know I have a camp blanket  that I love dearly. I have hand sewn everything on there including all of the scarves. Some of the badges I share with my partner in crime Shellie, but a lot of them tell of my scouting journey.

For the bag itself I needed to replace the stitching and that's it. Not a hard task, but a task that needed to be done correctly. I took a trip down to spotlight and bought some brown waxed thread, the last of the roll. I hoped it was enough.



I cut out the old thread with some small scissors and a quick unpick, and explored the three leather pieces that I was left with, very simple shapes, a very simple way to make a bag. Next I sewed them back together with the new waxed thread. Not difficult, but it took a good half hour to do.





There it is.

I sorted all of my sewing supplies out, cotton, needles, badges. And fit them all into my new sewing bag.

I think the difference between myself as a sustainability conscious designer and other people as hoarders, is that I intend to use the things that I collect.

A bag that has sat around for years now being used in a way that is beneficial to me. This has many more years of use left in it.

Darning my Clothes

I wanted to know could I salvage my jersey?

The deteriorated arm cuff.

I'd always wanted to learn how to darn so having clothing that was falling apart on me was the perfect excuse to.

Like a lot of fabric crafts I have had this preconceived notion that darning was a female craft. Perhaps once upon a time the ladies would jump at the chance to sew, knit, or darn the clothing of men all around to show off their mad skills; maybe not, it is more likely this was a result of a tradition where men were bread winners and women stayed home and didn't spend money; how the times have changed! Nowadays the suggestion that the ladies should do it for you would likely earn you a slap.

In the process of darning.

As more rows are thread the jersey pulls together more easily.

One of my favourite woolen jerseys, a re-purposed school jersey had been looking a bit worse for wear. The sleeves had laddered considerably, and one of the cuffs was hanging by a couple of threads. The idea was to darn these parts of the sleeve to make the jersey look less scruffy, to save it from deteriorating further, and to keep my arms warm as intended.


To darn you need a length of wool, in this case mine is black to match the black wool of the jersey.
A large darning needle, big enough to thread the wool through, a big needle of around 100mm is a good length to use.
A lot of holes are made over joints such as elbows and ankles. For holes like this it is useful to use a cup or egg shape to shape the hole naturally.

The upside down cup is used to stretch the hole out into a natural position for darning.

Through the magic of the internet you can find many images and tutorials to darning, they can explain the process much better than me. These images influenced how I went about my darning.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/darn

http://www.ecouterre.com/mend-and-darn-clothing-world-war-ii-style/patch-darn-shirt-mrs-sew-and-sew-4/

https://blog.colettehq.com/tutorials/make-do-and-mend-darning

The link above was for me the most comprehensive and easy to understand guide to darning.

My jersey partially darned.

Darning is like many other crafts in that by practicing doing it will prove better results. My first attempts were acceptable but not amazing.

A darned object has been altered in a way that does not hide the fact too well; darning as well as a number of different design techniques such as the Japanese pottery technique kintsugi can be used to highlight the part that has been repaired. The owner of the item recognizes that the item is more beautiful for having been broken. In the case of my jersey I can recognize that it ripped in several places and reflect upon the memories of adventurous activities I have had whilst wearing the jersey.

In the process of darning along a large tear.

The nicely finished tear darn. It has been turned inside the right way.

I currently have a few other items that need mending, I believe that the more I practice the neater my darning will become. I definitely believe that darned clothing is a fashion statement of sorts; it tells the world that the person wearing the clothes is happy to reuse and fix clothing to give it a longer life. I do not need to throw this  jersey out and buy a new one.

The darned jersey arm. Not perfect, but practical.

Me looking pretty stoked with my fixed jersey.