Kandi 2.0: PLUR Goes Digital

Peace. Love. Unity. Respect. Anyone who’s ever traded kandi at a festival or rave knows the tradition. Exchange the handmade trinkets. Do the cute handshake. Pay it forward. Repeat. But how do you meet others in the raver community if you’re in a small town or you’re busy with college or you simply can’t make it to as many parties as you’d like?

In the age of social media, you can connect and trade with your rave family online, but the fun of physical trading is lost. While in-person kandi-making parties should never go out of style, check out these tips on how to keep the PLUR spirit #alive in these digital days.

Start with some skills
KandiPatterns.com is my go-to resource for patterns. Those impressive armbands that look like they took forever? That’s dedication, and a pattern. Once you get good, you can graduate to masks, belts and even items of clothing.

Find your peeps
You’re only a hashtag away from talking to those who dig collecting kandi as much as you do. Search for #kanditrade on Twitter and Facebook and make a new friend.

Message the masters
The biggest method I’ve used for trading kandi beyond physical meet-ups at festivals is through message boards. You can get your digital trade on at kandiland.forumotion.com/. Besides, isn’t it nice to get something in the mail other than bills?

Reddit
There’s pretty much a group for anything and everything on Reddit, including kandi. See and share your kandi-making skills with others, participate in discussions, and even make a new friend or two with which you can trade at reddit.com/r/kandi.

However, if you’re new to kandi, just keep a few things in mind before you start stringing together your newly bought beads.

Never re-trade kandi that was given to you
I actually still have my first piece and keep everything that was given to me.

Don’t make “crack kandi”
Don’t just throw random beads on a string in no particular order. Put some effort into it with a pattern or design.

Kandi virgins
If someone is a new raver, give them kandi without expecting anything in return, except maybe a hug. If they don’t have a raver name, try to think of a good one that reflects their personality.

Don’t trade store-bought, pre-made kandi
And don’t buy it from others! We’re not really down with the idea of Hot Topic selling these now.