Skip to main content

Trash Panda for the Holidays: Catalog Christmas Cards

In this season of mass consumption, Trash Panda likes to festively push back against the terrible capitalist machine.* I do this by creating alternative narratives for the shiny photos in holiday catalogues and turning them into collage Christmas cards. 

It's nice because: 

  • Wow are there a lot of holiday catalogues laying around
  • Hurray, let's make something fun out of media that's trying to sell shit to us
  • Catalogs, post-its, scissors, markers, sticky labels, pretty paper, glue sticks, GO
I like to make figuring out the card captions a group activity with some of my more inventive friends since I find it easier and more fun to make alternative picture narratives collaboratively. Your mileage may vary.**

Here is a curated selection from the last ten years of me making these weird-ass things: 













============
* Far be it from Trash Panda to shit all over Christmas - this raccoon loves the winter holidays. But unrestrained late-stage capitalism can kick rocks along with 2020. So, you know, spend time with your loved ones this Yule any way you safely can, be conscious and conscientious in your gift giving and receiving, and give what you can to those who are getting crushed by a system of rampant greed. And take care of yourselves. 

** Obviously, don't get together indoors with folks outside your household during this time of record COVID numbers. Doing this outside this time of year can be, uh, challenging. Taking pics of your favorite catalog images and sharing them over chat might work. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trash Panda Likes It Hot: DIY American-Style Kotatsu

It’s been a fucking difficult year. And now it's the holidays and it's cold out and it's still not safe to spend time inside with loved ones who're outside of your pandemic pod. If you don't have a firepit or one of those expensive outdoor propane heaters how the fuck are you supposed to make this work? Enter the Trash Panda Kotatsu. Ok, so in Japan they've got these cool coffee table looking things with a heavy blanket skirt and a special heating unit attached up underneath. You sit on a cushion, put your legs underneath and snuggle up there to keep warm during the winter. These snuggly table friends are called kotatsu.  Actual kotatsu don't really work for American outdoor winter gathering purposes during COVID because: They're real short. Like just over a foot tall. They're meant for sitting around on the ground or on a cushion. Nobody wants to do that outside during the winter because the ground is cold and wet. Also most Americans are so used...

Dumpster Fire, Forest Fire, Easy DIY Air Purifier

It has been a YEAR.  Trash Panda hopes you've been staying sane and safe. Well, as much as you can be in the year of our Everlasting Dumpster Fire 2020 ( Update July 2021: And the year of our Great Anxiety 2021).   Speaking of fires - today's post is about how to make a cheap & effective DIY air purifier. Depending on the rating of the filter you use, it’s good for wildfire smoke, allergens, or even viruses. Parts needed:     + 20"x20" box fan    + Furnace air filter, preferably 20"x20" and with a rating of MERV 13 or higher (more on this later)    + Tape or bungee cord Tape or use a bungee cord to attach the filter on the back/air intake of the box fan and make sure to have the little arrow on the side of the filter facing towards the fan. That's it. Just use enough tape to keep the filter on there, and try not to cover too much of the filter area with tape. You can screw on little metal brackets on the side of the fan to create a more ...

Trash Panda Sews It Up: The T-Shirt Mini-skirt

It's cold, and I find myself in need of a butt-warmer. A butt-warmer, much like a leg-warmer or arm-warmer, is a tube of material that covers the butt and butt adjacent areas to keep them warm. You could also call it a mini-skirt. Trash Panda had heard tales of people making such skirts out of shirts, and so the quest began. CraftyCoup, may my cousins never tip over her trash can, made a post with instructions for how to make just such a butt-warmer with a sewing machine . And as she says in her post, it is very, very easy to make. But what if you don't have a sewing machine, or if you've never made a piece of clothing before? Fear not, Trash Panda will guide you. Materials:  T-shirt Scissors, sharper is better Needle and thread Measuring thingy (measuring tape is good, ruler is ok) Elastic for the waistband  Tailor's chalk or pencil, or maybe just normal chalk The Process:  1) Find a shirt that's got:  Some stretch to it: It's a mini-skirt, it needs to be at le...