The Skin of the Torus
For years, around this time of year, I have sat down to my sewing machine, after dredging creek bottoms, begging, stealing and pilfering used inner tubes, to make stuff. I usually try to make things that are useful enough to be sellable, and so I can justify days of sitting, in near bliss, at the machine. The billfolds and purses that I make are generally popular with the buyers, except for the color. People have often asked me if I make something in another color. I have to say no because they only make inner tubes in black, just like the old Model Ts.
The tyranny of black rubber is over. I chanced upon some red rubber scraps from a rubber stamp company last summer. While the black rubber is still superior in drape and texture, the red rubber is as red as a redhead. I 'll be incorporating the red into this year's line.
Want Some Rubber?
While I usually don't pimp this blog for commercial purposes (except for my own), please feel free to email me for the price list and availability. This is a limited thing, and won't be around long (really, I do this about a week out of the year, the cliche is true).
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3 comments:
aw yeah, can you please pimp my bag?! I want some red rubber!
Used inner tubes turn into wallets? I'm not picturing that. Are you talking about, y'know, tire inner tubes?
The Rubber FAQ
What is A Rubber Inner Tube?
I am talking about those black rubber doughnut-shaped jing-jangs that go inside a bicycle tire that hold all the air, so the rim isn't just rolling on the ground. They even have a valve on them, so if they were a kind of mollusc, they'd be called a monovalve.
How Does a Rubber Inner Tube Become a Part of a Wallet?
The artisanne goes dumpster-diving behind the Spokesman and rinses all the cat piss off of them, and then she carefully cuts them up into little squares (or a long spiral, if she wants to knit with it) and they become the little credit card pockets of the billfold. The rest of the wallet is crafted from a truck inner tube, or in the case of the Red Rubber, from cast offs from the stamp company. Bike inner tubes can also be sewn in contiguous strips, like eel skins, thus creating a stretchy, rubbery fabric that can be turned into a purse or a bag for books, or notebooks, or even more rubber crafting supplies.
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