unique encounters

*We would like to thank this artist for agreeing to be interviewed as our first ever unique encounter with a brilliant artist to be featured on Princess YellowBelly.

The Art

Jolene takes plastic shopping bags from stores like Walmart and City Market, and repurposes them into plastic yarn which she then crochets into a variety of beautiful projects like bags, rugs, mats, and even clothing.

This past year she started making her own yarn combinations.

What inspired you to make these larger bags out of plastic bags?

“Roughly 5 years ago – when I was living in Bloomfield, NM – I read an article about some ladies at a church in Farmington who were using plastic bags in this type of project to make mats for homeless people.

I made a mat – then, living in the Southwest – I was inspired to make water battle carriers.  That was where I started, then it went to bigger bags.

I tried making bleacher buddy bags – to carry stuff during games – but they didn’t go over too well in Bloomfield (a lot of stuff didn’t go to well in Bloomfield).”

Do you make a lot of different designs or a basic one?

“My designs are always different, but so far I’ve made water bags, big bags, buddy bags, diaper bags, pipe bags, wallets (custom designed for business cards and money for carrying in a woman’s pocket.)”

The Project

Jolene is very modest about her art, seeing the completed projects as a sort of extension of her life, a natural product of an ordinary appreciation of beauty and economy.

Yet for those of us who never thought of turning trashy plastic bags into a work of art, the idea is both compelling and fascinating.  It’s even more amazing because, like many people, when she’s home she turns on the TV.  But Jolene uses that time to be productive, because she can’t just sit, and so she crochets.

Jolene Noyes is a fascinating and unique Coloradan fabric artist who has found a way to overcome the challenges of being a creative person on a low income, and at the same time created a brilliant new way to recycle plastic bags!

Jolene was born in Tecate, Mexico, but moved to Laguna Beach, California with her mother as a child.   Over the years they slowly moved up the coast from Southern California to Northern California, eventually settling in Sanoma County, Pattaluma.  Jolene remembers it as a country farm town, but notes that San Francisco has “crossed the bridge” and changed her old home town.

Jolene has been a lifelong traveler.  As a child she remembers traveling to Alaska, and then to the Far East in exotic ports of call like Japan, Hong Kong, and across Asia.  As an adult she has lived in New England, and in Southwestern states like New Mexico and Colorado.  Her latest adventure was spending two years on a houseboat in her birthplace – Mexico.

In the midst of her travels Jolene also raised 3 children, and worked as an administrative assistant and secretary/book-keeper for civil engineers.  Keeping in mind that was before they had automated computer programs, and she would write her own programs to keep time and payrolls.

She also worked 4 years in a library, and she fondly recalls some years she spent driving senior citizens and Meals-on-Wheels.

She has finally settled in the beautiful Four Corners town of Cortez, Colorado.

Do you use a standard pattern or is this your own design?

“I’m always learning new combinations as I go along.”

At first I started with just squares, but then I found a couple of circle building patterns in a book.

So I really make my own patterns, but they’re not strictly patterns, I just crochet and then it works out.

How long does each bag take to complete?

“The little water bag takes about a half a day, went to work on the plastic and later that afternoon.

The bigger bags take 3-4 days, the middle bags just a couple of days.  I work for hours at a time, watching TV.”

How many have you made in all (or a rough estimate)?

“Maybe a hundred.  No real idea.  I used to have whole bags filled with the water-bottle bags.”

The Finished Product

Jolene uses her experience to build the next project.

During our interview Jolene told me that she’s been crocheting for roughly 40 years.  She also admits to having tried knitting, but she didn’t enjoy it enough to be good at it.

Her pattern is free style.  She started making handles for a project – now she’s going to figure out a middle insert for a large bag.   Lately she’s also been working on making more patterns in color (theming them) than just letting them grow by themselves.

What is your process; design, prep, work, completion, etc.?

“I come up with the patterns in my head and work it out as I go.

It’s an ever-changing, growing technique.  I’d never made pockets before, but the ones to the show in Santa Fe all had pockets.

I make them in the shapes that they are – rectangular, square, ovalish.

Why do you enjoy making them? 

“It makes me feel so great when I can make something for someone (like the wallet) that turns out just really great and works for what they wanted.”

What’s the Weirdest Thing You’ve Ever Made?

“Some of my little bags – clutch purse wallet sizes – are being used as pipe bags for recreational marijuana.

Lots of applications. [This is Colorado after all, and it’s good business!]

Once I started to make a bathing suit top – and maybe one day I’ll make a skirt to go with it.  My friend wants a clothing design in plastic for her wedding vow renewals.   I’m not sure why she wants that – I find it weird-cool (but it should be a challenge).”

Do you have any other hobbies?

I’m taking up drawing, and would like to get into more arts. My direction right now is in stones, bones, and bags (crochet).”

I’m trying to find a way to use stones that I pick up during my daily walks in my art – either to use with the bags or maybe on some other project.

Investment & Return

The yarn costs her about 50 cents a roll – she gets the cheap stuff at local markets.  The plastic shopping bags are free, most of them she just takes from the free bins at places like Safeway and City Market.

To her own admission, Jolene is not money-oriented.  However, her natural creativity is starting to take off; a friend just took a whole bunch of her bags down to several shows in Santa Fe, and was planning to charge roughly $20 per bag.

What’s Next for Jolene

Jolene’s has also enjoyed making rugs, with the really thick sets of yarn, but lately she’s started to make custom designs for what people ask for.  As long as the project falls within her guidelines, simple crochet patterns, nothing too weird.

Jolene’s next project is a diaper bag for her daughter’s new baby.  She going to try lining it, maybe using an old batik skirt.  The diaper bag is also going to have a snap-over top, then an insert in the middle, plus pockets inside and outside.  She’s really excited about the diaper bag because it’s all new, which means new things to figure out.

She uses reclaimed hardware on a lot of these projects (buckles, D-rings, buttons), which is another example of how thriftiness can turn into something really beautiful.

We all wish Jolene the best life has to offer as she follows her own unique blend of life-experience, irrepressible creativity, and good old-fashioned thriftiness to create wonderful art.

A close-up view of Jolene’s beautiful hand-crocheting work

One of Jolene’s water bottle carrying bags

A large wallet made using a combination of plastic yarn and purple acrylic yarn

This bag with both pockets and handles is an example of Jolene’s ever-evolving free-style

A close-up of the comfort-grip handles shows the thoughtfulness Jolene puts into each project

A roll of plastic yarn made from a gray plastic shopping bag

On this bag Jolene used a small piece of net and seashells she collected during her stay in Mexico 

Does this close-up look like a cartoon face or what?!?

The inside of this wallet is simple, yet the thickness of the bag makes it both durable and valuable

Jolene often uses reclaimed hardware, like these gold buttons, to add functionality and style to her beautiful bags