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I’ve been admiring the work of Joey, from Joey’s Dream Garden,  for a good while through her lovely and extensive collection of photos on flickr.  I  met her in person at a recent Craft Candy meeting in Sheffield and was delighted when she agreed to let me interview her for this blog post…

Q.Tell me a bit about yourself.

My name is Joey Ramone, which isn’t the name given by my parents but I like it better and I’ve had it now for 18 years. I’ve lived in Sheffield for nearly 13 years after leaving Hull University with Mathew, my partner, who I met there.

Q. Describe your creative process.

I get inspiration from all sorts of sources – other art and craft including product design and animation; the natural world; my memories of different places from years ago, and my dreams.  I tend to start with a thought which I then try to doodle and then quickly move to the finished thing!  My favourite material has to be felt, I love it’s texture and how it’s always soft and warm to the touch. A close second is paper.  I’m a terrible magpie/hoarder,  so I have lots and lots of paper and drawers and boxes full of lovely haberdashery like buttons, beads and ribbons etc.  You can never have too much of that sort of stuff!

Q.Describe your work area/space.

I don’t have a single room/studio as such, I tend to spread out over the whole house…so I have a workhouse! Hahaha! It’s messy, you really don’t want to see it…

Q. How did you learn/acquire your creative skills?

Like many people, I’ve always loved playing with scissors and paper and bits of fabric.  My first experiences of sewing was that I watched my mum darning socks (which she got me to do too!  We were a big family: many socks to darn) and my sister Lesley who was and is a very talented dressmaker, and learnt from them really.  I went to Leicester Southfields College of Further Eduction to do a B/TEC National in Fashion Design (knitwear) but only for a few months because apart from the drawing lessons, I hated it.  I never want to touch a knitting machine ever again, I’m scarred for life… Then a few years later I went to Macclesfield School of Art and Design (which I really loved) where I learnt all about photography, did lots and lots of life drawing, and generally having an art-filled life for a couple of years.   Then I did a BA Hons Fine Art (Sculpture) at University of Humberside (as it was called then) where I didn’t learn too much, but I did have the relative freedom to spend lots of time experimenting with different materials and watching foreign films for free from the Uni library during the summer holidays.  I used a lot of wax, cotton wool and liquid latex.

Q.Where do you sell the items you make?

On Etsy mainly.  I also have a Folksy shop but I neglect it terribly, and i’ve done the Craft Candy spring fair.  Oh, and a couple of charity events.

Joey’s Dream Garden at Craft Candy Spring Fling 2009

Q. How do you promote your work?

Mainly by word of mouth, and also on flickr (although you’re not really meant to! I think I’m just within the boundaries of acceptable use!) and to a lesser extent, my blog, which is also very neglected.

Q. What are you working on at the moment?

I’m currently preparing for an origami workshop in June, and also a little ‘test’ workshop on 16th May. I’ve dabbled in origami and I think that more people should be able to do it or have the opportunity to try.

Q. What is your favourite thing about  creating/crafting?

There are lots of things!  I love colours, textures, light and shade, patterns, shapes… so making things gives me the chance to play.  I love the process but often I hate it too, because striving to make things that i’d like to come close to some sort of ‘beauty’ is very difficult… I can get very frustrated and disillusioned when something doesn’t turn out how I imagined.  I’d like to think that I put a bit of my personality into the things I make, and I like to make things which feel they come at least somewhere near that aim.

Q. What would you like to be doing in 5 years time?