Experimenting with Surface Resists

In preparation for an upcoming workshop, I wanted to do more experimentation with surface resists. This 14"(w) x 10.5"(h), wet-felted, white-on-brown wool bowl is the most recent result. Kitty was hoping it was a cat cave, but alas, it is not. The slits were made using crescent-shaped pieces of plastic which were removed midway through the fulling stage — thereby allowing the cut edges to "heal" during the final fulling. Some stiffener was used to keep the soft vessel from denting when roughly handled. I've a few more experiments to do prior to the next Vessels & Votives workshop, so stay tuned.

New Felted Work :: Botanical Series

I just completed another piece in my "Botanical" series utilizing pre-felts. It's really fun to work with pre-felts as one can achieve an almost cut-paper-like design (ala Matisse!). With this botanical series, I like to work spontaneously laying down the cut-outs as I make them. However, I have also sketched out in advance ideas for other pieces and, while some details are blurred and/or lost, it's amazing how much the final felted work resembles the pencil skecth. I'll try posting samples of that soon so you can judge for yourselves. Cheers!

"2000 Breaths" Meditation Mats

Design and hand-crafted by Kim Buchheit; © Kim Buchheit

In my on-going effort to live more in the present moment, I recently incorporated breath work into my textile making process. While creating these thick warm-and-woolly meditation mats (or table accents), I made two stitches on the in-breath and two on the out-breath. The total number of breaths per 20-inch round mat is about 2000. My hope is that this practice not only makes me more conscious, but also imbues my work with some sense of peace that is bestowed on others. My 2000 Breaths® felted wool textiles will soon be available in my Etsy shop.