Tottie Talks Crafts Blog

It has been a pleasure to learn more about some of the fiber artists (members of the International Freeform Fiber Artists Group) who contributed to the book: Somewhere in my World,

Note: All the proceeds of the book go to the following 2 charities:

Kiva.org and to Mercy Corp for Haitian relief

This is going to be the last profile in the series, and  I am ending the series with a profile of my dear friend, Jorel Thomson.

Link to her page in the book.

As always, my questions are in GREEN and Jorel’s answers are in black.

copyright Jorel Thomson

1. Can you tell us a little about your piece for ‘Somewhere in my world’?

I’ve been playing with Tunisian crochet and enjoying the different textures it creates. I’ve also been taking a ceramics class and having fun making things. So I included buttons I’ve made (the house and the leaves) on the Tunisian stitched background. I used yarn that was given away at a crochet show, where I met in person several of the FFers that I’ve known online for years. And I just happened to have the little sheep beads, which were perfect for what I wanted to do.

copyright Jorel Thomson

2. What was your inspiration, and has it lead to further explorations for you?

I’ve always wanted to see the world but somehow, never quite got around to it. My daughter has been studying in Spain this past year and I took the opportunity to visit her. We rode a bus from Bilbao to San Sebastian through Pais Vasco, the Basque country, and it was a symphony of green fields, houses set in the fields, small flocks of sheep. I knew that would be my challenge piece for this year.

3. The International Freeform Fiber Artists Guild is primarily focused on crochet, but includes so many other fiber techniques. Do you do other things other than crochet, and if so, what are they?

I used to say I’ve never met a craft I didn’t like. When my girls were younger, I did a lot of crafting with them, with the Girl Scouts, with various groups of kids. I used to sew, hand embroider, once upon a time had a quilt business, have done various papercrafts, paper molding, handmade paper, origami (still looking for a book that makes it easy) . Some small loom handweaving, some experiments with basketry. Loved making wax models for casting silver but hated cleaning them up. Easy jewelry making when the girls were teenagers and wanted lots of earrings (I got them started and then they took off making their own). I’m currently taking an ongoing ceramics class. I have a favorite painting teacher and for a long time, took a class a year from her but have not done much with that lately. Have crocheted for years, finally managed to learn to knit when someone told me you could hold the yarn in your left hand.

copyright Jorel Thomson

4. What part of creating your piece for ‘Somewhere in my world’ was the most challenging for you?

Coming up with the basic idea. The theme did not immediately speak to me so I had to do some real searching for an idea I wanted to pursue. When I knew I was going to be visiting my daughter, I wanted to come up with an idea based on the trip.

5. What part of creating your piece for ‘Somewhere in my world’ was the most inspiring and fun for you?

Taking the trip to Spain with my daughters. Actually creating the piece was easy. It’s more representational than most of my Freeform and very different from my other work.

copyright Jorel Thomson

6. What triggers your creativity?

Very hard to say. Pretty much anything can set up a creative train of thought. One year, I saw the Xmas trees people had discarded after the holidays and thought I’d like to do something based on green trees, tinsel, brown trees. Haven’t done it yet but the idea is still there. I also am very inspired by seeing other peoples’ work, in all media. But my inspiration is almost entirely visual–music doesn’t do it for me.

7. Which of the fiber arts speak most deeply to you?

Crochet, especially freeform. Funnily, most of the projects I have going are knit but that’s because I knit from patterns. I’m following directions, not creating something brand new, so it’s restful. Sometimes I find Freeform exhausting because some pieces take a lot of thought.

copyright Jorel Thomson

8. Does where you live influence your work in any way?

Yes and no. There are days I wish I lived in a less suburban area, had more nature within walking distance. I love California. I can drive to the ocean, the bay, the city, a little further and see mountains but they are not within walking distance. Then I realize I’m only 5 minutes from my job, my doctor, the vet, the grocery store and enjoy the convenience of it.

9. Is teaching the fiber arts a significant part of expressing your creativity?

I LOVE teaching! The yarn store I used to teach at closed and I’d forgotten how much I liked teaching until I recently started to teach at another local shop. I’m happy when I help someone discover the ability to create something with their own hands.

10. Do you have a crafting or arts community that influences you and is important to you? (online or ‘real life’). Is it important to you to be in touch with your peers?

I’m one of the original members of the International Freeform group, back before it was on Yahoo. That group has been a big presence in my life for years and I treasure the friends I’ve made online through the group. It’s a joy when I have the opportunity to meet any of them in person, which isn’t as often as I’d like. And Ravelry has become a community I value, too. I have a few local friends I see regularly–we call it Monday Knitting but we don’t do much knitting, more chatting. Helping at Stitches West is a high point in my year, something I look forward to and take time off from work for. So yes, it is important for me to be in contact with others who share my fiber enthusiasm.

11. Is there anything that I have missed that you would like to share with the readers of Tottie Talks Crafts?

I don’t consider myself an artist. I am very good at figuring out how to make something I’ve seen somewhere but a lot of what I do, I don’t consider original. So I call myself a craftswoman and am in awe of some of the truly creative people in the FF group (including you, Noreen!)