We are the weaver, we are the web

Fiber, clay, metal, wood, glass. These are the “materials of craft,” written in the order with which I am familiar, though metal and wood would probably tie for third place. I have always used my hands to create things; my parents made certain of it. Making things out of a collection of various objects has always been one of my favorite pastimes.

With all the various media I had the opportunity to explore, something always drew me back to fiber. Looking back, there are photos of me at age two, when I wove string throughout every piece of furniture (even the oven door handle) to tie up our kitchen into one enormous web. Once shown how to braid - what to my young self felt like nothing short of a superpower - I would plait everything from my doll’s tresses, to (real) horse manes, and the tassels on a throw rug, for hours on end.

My first real instruction in fiber arts was from my father, who taught me to knit when I was six years old. As family lore has it, he learned from his grandmother when he was my age. When he was in his early twenties, he spent a year in a body cast. Knitting was the way he found to make the long hours bearable, while lying prone day after day on Memmy’s (my great-grandmother’s) sunporch.

At the age of eight, I was introduced to my first fiber arts mentor, Jan French. Jan had a true love of all things fiber. She furthered my knowledge of knitting, and added foundational instruction in drop spindle, carding, felting (both needle and wet techniques), and weaving.

And then there was Toni. Toni Mason, proprietor of Sew Crafty in Durham, became one of my most trusted mentors and a dear friend. What began when I was 11 as a typical student-teacher relationship quickly grew into a close-knit (no pun intended) aunt-niece type bond - with fiber “tying” us together (pun intended). Over the years, the focus of our lessons turned from sewing functional pieces (clothing, tote bags, pillows, and toys) to creating more and more sophisticated quilts made from patterns we created and cut ourselves. The quilts I sewed with Toni are by far the largest and most elaborate craft items I have ever made, and I look forward to handing them down for generations to come.

While thinking about writing this piece, I've realized that one of things that draws me to this medium is that it offers instant gratification. Unlike other mediums, such as pottery, which must be glazed and fired; metal and glass, which must be cooled; or even wood, the stain on which must dry, when you finish most any fiber project, it is immediately and truly complete.

If I really had to say what it is that continually draws me to making craft from fiber, I would say that it is being able to take these individual parts, this not-so-useful lump of tangled wool or cotton, and make a malleable, tactile, visually pleasing piece from it. It’s the same feeling I get from making a sculpture, inking in a sketch, or even taking random objects from the side of the road and just making an aesthetically pleasing … creation.