i currently have the honor of preparing for an interview with jiyoung chung, a practitioner of the ancient korean art of joomchi. there is not a lot of information about joomchi on the web, but i wouldn't be surprised if it grows in its appeal: it is, more or less, felted paper, which in its end product lasts much longer than regular paper (hundreds of years longer) and over time acquires a more lovely finish the more it is handled and worn (hence its early use in making money purses.) i am always interested in textiles that get better with age. and, after receiving some preliminary information from jiyoung chung about how joomchi is created, you can see what i did: i sat down and made it.
the other nice thing about joomchi is that it takes a molded shape very well. this, of course, is pretty primitive, but it was dry by morning and i put an LED tap-light inside of it to make a luminaria. frankly, i love it!
i'll not go into the details or the how-to here: you'll just have to buy the spring issue of korean quarterly. but if i make anymore joomchi i'll be sure to share it here.