Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Kapok -- My New High Fiber Diet



Talk about eating a high fiber diet! I received my wholesale order of kapok this week and I have been tasting it, peeling it off of my apron, sweeping it off the floor, and breathing it in! Kapok is as soft as silk! I can plunge my hand into the 40-pound bags and it feels like the softest silk, the most newborn kitten, the absolute best!

Kapok is a natural fiber from the seeds of the kapok tree grown in the South Pacific. It is hypoallergenic, fluffy, and a sustainably harvested filler. Like the bamboo batting I love in my quilting, I add kapok to the list of my new favorite fiber. I use it for filling my needle-felted pillows and it plumps my Freckled Bird lapel pins. (A flock of these freckled birds was last seen in my studio.) Kapok resists clumping which is ideal for your pillows; you can wash them and they bounce back to their original shape! Instead of the scratchy polyfil that is so last week, kapok is easy on my textile-weary hands. (My go-to hand moisturizer is now Alba Botanica; I buy that by the boat load, too!)

I've been shopping for kapok pillow forms for months and finally made the decision to buy this fiber in wholesale quantities and make my own pillow forms. I am glad that I did. I am placing them on my etsy shop this week if you'd like to try them in your own creative life. One day, kapok may be readily available throughout the country in many retail outlets. Until then, you can count on me!

1 comment:

Maiden Love said...

Hi there, I love kapok and loathe fiber fill, too! I usually use wool stuffing, but as I am sure you know, it's expensive!!! I used to have a source for wholesale kapok, but they are now out of business. Would you mind sharing yours? Thanks! Maya of Maiden Love