where the magic happens

i don't know about you, but when i buy handmade items, i like to find out where they came from and the story behind them. for those of you that don't know, i have my own little etsy store where i sell items that i've made, almost exclusively made from vintage or repurposed materials. and here is where i make everything!

my basement, where my mom and i work (she's the one who taught me almost everything i know). on the right is her sewing space, on the left is our giant wooden working table. in the background you can see part of her collection of vintage sewing machines.

and this is where i work...fabric is on the left, my lovely vintage Rocketeer sewing machine is on the right.

 my super messy worktable, some pattern pieces hanging on the board.

fabric wall

some shorts post-washing!

what i watch when i'm working...
 
 stay tuned for more!

i want to have a factory. but not really a factory but a workshop, where i take all the bad things in the world and make beautiful things from them.

hello. my name is ari taylor and i am 20 years old. i live in boston, mass, and southern new hampshire. i want to create a blog where i find discarded things and make them into something functional and pretty.

i remember when i first went to the dump in my tiny, rural new hampshire farm town. my mom and i drove through the gates and parked next to a few people unloading their garbage. there was a huge metals pile behind us, filled with old washers and dryers, appliances, chairs, and bits and pieces of furniture and other items. my mom and i would love to look through them and find things for her art. her favorites and bits of rusted metal, with the rich reddish brown color. i liked to find things like old pails and buckets to repaint or hold my art supplies.

then we would go to the giant bins filled with magazines. i would bring magazines home and cut out pictures for collages. and i never had to buy magazines to read (when you're young you don't care if it's up to date or not). and then we would go to the "still good" pile, which was my favorite. there was a bookshelf filled with old books, shelves of dishes and silverware, craft supplies, jewelry, toys, outdated appliances, even old sports equipment. and the best part was that it was all free. i loved bringing home items and "fixing" them or using them for something new.

trash has always intrigued me. why people get rid of so much, and what i can do about it. i hope you will come on this journey with me.