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Joe Strummer

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Strummer of Love: Crafting

September 3, 2012

Crafting was a big part of this year’s Strummer of Love festival and my friends and I certainly took advantage of this. After all, what is more exciting to a craft enthusiast like me than the appeal of a festival which incorporated it into the schedule?

Here’s what I made:

Floral crown headbands

These floral crown headbands were the perfect addition to our festival outfits and what was great about making them was that was they were completely unique and personal to us. Here’s how we made them:

Masking tape was wrapped around gardening wire to make a base for our floral headbands

Flowers were then added to the headband for decoration

Charlotte adding flowers to her headband

We added small flowers to our headbands for an understated floral crown

Me showing my half-finished headband

And the finished result

Charlotte wears her finished headband

Friendship bracelets

Friendship bracelets are synonymous with schooldays (I used to make loads of them to wear myself and to hand out to friends) so making them at Strummer of Love felt like a nice nod to my childhood.

Friendship bracelets were made by either plaiting or knotting threads together

My plaited bracelet

Wearing my bracelet proudly on my arm

Charlotte and Bethan at work

Native american headbands

On the final day, we were able to make these wonderful headbands to proudly wear around the site, which was a nice way to finish off our weekend.

Bethan sews feathers to her headband

A piece of fabric was sewn to the elastic base

Feathers were glued onto felt which was then sewn onto the elastic

Beads could be sewn on to add an extra something

My finished headband

There were plenty of craft supplies at the Handmade Hangout

Me with my finished headband

If you’d like to read more about my experience at the Strummer of Love festival, please click here.

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Strummer of Love: Part one

August 31, 2012

Imagine a relaxing festival where you can combine lying in a hammock listening to a band playing in the background with making floral headbands and dreamcatcher jewellery. The atmosphere is chilled and there’s even a campfire to sit around while watching undiscovered talent.

That’s exactly how it is at the Strummer of Love festival, which I attended earlier this month in Somerset. The festival was held as a celebration of 10 years of Joe Strummer’s death. The lead singer of The Clash had a passion for unsigned artists and, in his lifetime, was a pioneer of new talent. It is his daughter, Jazz Domino Holly, who is now carrying on his legacy, by holding this festival in his memory, a festival that had a stage entirely devoted to emerging musicians.

The campfire stage was a platform for lesser-known performers

But it’s not only unsigned artists who got to perform. Personal highlights included Seasick Steve, Frank Turner, King Charles and The Pogues. What was special about Strummer of Love though, was that all of the artists performing on the main stage had a personal connection or had been inspired by Joe.

Performers on the Clash City Rockers stage had a personal connection, or had been inspired by Joe Strummer

Jazz is not simply enthusiastic about carrying on her Dad’s legacy in music though. She is also passionate about crafts. The author of Queen of Crafts: The Modern Girls’ Guide to Knitting, Sewing, Quilting, Baking, Preserving & Kitchen Gardening, combined her two loves for the festival, with crafting at an equal measure to music.

This made the perfect festival in my opinion and I loved making lots of crafty items to wear while listening to bands.

Enjoying the hammocks at the Strummer of Love festival

The variety of different areas, such as the Handmade Hangout, which was where we spent most of our time, or the Strummer School, made the festival a really chilled and wonderful experience for a newbie like me.

The Handmade Hangout area

A typewriter fire in the Strummer School tent

So what better festival to attend for a craft enthusiast to go to than Strummer of Love, and what better reason to hold one than to celebrate the life and legacy of someone who always advocated new music?

Strummer of Love, you were the best!