How to Make a Hanji Wall Plaque

If you purchased one of our plaque kits, here's how to put it all together:

First, make a batch of hanji paste, like this... Measure 1 1/2 cups water in a small saucepan. Whisk in 1/4 cup flour. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently, until thickened. Set aside.

Take out the tile, the 2 pieces of paper and the cut design. Find the larger of the two papers. On a flat surface, brush hanji paste on one side of the paper. Place the paper, paste side down, on the BACK of the tile (flat side). Wrap edges around to the front side of the tile and smooth the paper. Use a chopstick to poke through the holes on the back of the plaque, keeping the "poked" paper inside the holes. Spread a thin layer of paste over the back of the plaque.

Follow the same process with the smaller paper on the front (angled) side if the tile. Poke front holes through with a chopstick.

Cover the front of the tile with a thin layer of paste. Center the cut design on the tile front. Carefully brush a thin paste layer over the design.

Thread a string or wire (a opened paper clip works well) through a hole and hang the plaque until it's dry. Thread the ribbon through both holes and tie it in the back.

Any questions? Ask thehanjicrew@yahoo.com.

Tray Making

At camp today, lots of parents asked about the chance to try a traditional hanji project. We put our remaining tray project kits in the market here at Korean Heritage Camps, and here are a few tips for making the trays:

Make a batch of traditional hanji paste by whisking 1/4 cup flour into 1 1/2 cups water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, until thickened. Brush a thin layer all over the inside bottom of the tray; carefully place the SMALLER piece of hanji paper in the tray, pressing the paper into the corners. Cover that piece with another thin layer of paste. Place the cut design on the tray, and lightly brush over the entire surface. Flip over the tray and cover the bottom with paste. Add the larger piece of paper to the bottom. Cover the bottom surface with paste. Let it dry thoroughly.

Keeping the Crew Busy

The Crew loves our classes, but we've never prepped for anything quite this large before. We wanted to ensure that classes were foolproof, so we made kits for all the kids, including the wood tray hanji projects that 4th and 5th graders made today. Prep pays off, as the 60+ trays were fabulous. Best of all, four 5th grade boys told us this was the best thing at camp.

It's Camp Season

A giant hanbok? It must be time for culture camps. The Hanji Crew kicks off the season at Korean Heritage Camp in the Colorado Rockies.

Heading Home

Three families are extending their trip; the rest of us are at Incheon, through security and waiting for our flight to Chicago... reluctantly.

Subway Map At Your Fingertips? Priceless.

Well, actually, the Seoul Metro map is a free app, but I recommend loading it before your next trip. It made subway travel a snap.

We're all packed up and ready to head for Incheon Airport at 7:30 tomorrow morning. It is fabulous to be reunited with the rest of group for the journey home.

Gyeongbuk Palace

Looking this direction, it appears that the magnificent palace is high in the mountains, but turn around, and you are surrounded by Seoul skyscrapers. It was a short walk from Gyeongbukgung to Insadong Market.

If They Don't Have It, You Don't Need It

Kitchen supply stall at Namdaemun.

Food Delivery

The photo is a little blurry, but check out the woman in red, delivering lunch, carrying it on her head. I have seen this a lot at Namdaemun Market. Food delivery is cheap and ultra green. It arrives in real dishes, and the delivery person comes back to get the dishes. One of the many wonders of Namdaemun.

Wintery Seoul

Today we got a reminder of what winter feels like. A cold rain turned to snow at midday. Holly is demonstrating the cool umbrella bags you see everywhere. Slide your umbrella in the top of this contraption, slide it out the side, and your wet umbrella is in a long bag so stores and businesses do not have to mess with your drips. By 4:00 today, the sun was out.

For My BananaGirl

We are at Dunkin' Donuts again this morning. It is right next to our hotel (which is no surprise since it seems like there is one on every corner in Seoul). It isn't that we love doughnuts; we love wifi. I'm usually an egg sandwich gal, but today had to get a banana treat in honor of Mary. We are fueled up now and off to Dongdaemun Market. Meeting up with the big group later today.

Last Hanji Shopping (Sad!)

We hit three final paper stores today, then told Holly to cut us off... We couldn't carry any more paper. We have some amazing purchases. It will make going home easier because we have USING all this paper to look forward to. (And we did decide to pick up some plain white paper at Namdaemun Market tomorrow, so we do not need to go into withdrawal quite yet.)

Best. Meal. Ever.

After our Dongdaemun flop, we headed to Insadong to finish our hanji paper shopping. We had passed this chicken restaurant the day before, and wondered if it would serve the delicious Korean ginseng chicken soup. This was totally different, but one of the best things we have ever eaten. It was a braised chicken with a slightly sweet sauce, potatoes, and a few other veggies. The sign outside said this dish comes from the Andong area. I googled "Andong chicken," and did come up with a few hits that look promising. So good.

Shopping? Come back tonight

Only in Korea would you find a shopping mall that's open all night, but not during the day. We headed to Dondaemun today, only to find this sign. We'll go tomorrow. (This shopping area is actually open 24 hours a day except, apparently, on Mondays.)

Phone Jazz

Do-dads for phones are everywhere... in stores, at street vendor tables, in the subway. Holly put this combo together today. The black cat is an accessory that connects in the earphone jack, and when you press on the kitty-case head, the phone turns on or off.

Paper Inventory

We're hitting traditional markets today, so inventoried what we bought so far so we can fill in matching and accessory colors. I think we're up to the job.

Strawberries

Why are strawberries sooooo good in Korea? Like just-picked, ripe, strawberry field berries. In March.

I'm in Dunkin' Donuts now (good wifi) and Holly just got a doughnut with sprinkles... but the sprinkles were pop rocks.

King Mahndu

We ate really well today. Lunch was the best jajangmyun (black bean noodles) we've ever tasted, and we returned to our favorite restaurant from the last trip for huge dumplings (a heavenly meat filling) the size of my fist.

Caught Up on Photos

I finally had a few extra minutes and a wifi connection. Find a bunch more photos at www.flickr.com/photos/thehanjicrew/sets/72157629274642418

Hanji Socks

Yes,this blog is a bit of a love story with hanji, but what else would you expect from The Hanji Crew? I bet you didn't know (or care) that the same fibers from the mulberry bark that make our favorite paper are also twisted into thread and yarn. It's true. Here's proof: my new hanji socks from Jeonju. Jealous?

Back in Seoul

The rest of our group left Gwangju today for Busan; Kat, Holly and I took the train to Seoul. Sundays in this city are clearly the day families are out in full force. In a city of 17 million, it means killer traffic jams, the subways are packed, and stores have that Black Friday feel. We went to Kyobo bookstore first (always awesome), then back to the artist district, Insadong. On my first trip to Korea in 2000, Insadong was almost exclusively traditional wares -- art, clothing, artist supplies. Now, sadly, there is more and more western influence, as evidenced in this photo that may become my favorite of all time.

The Right Tool

Kat and I took a hanji class yesterday in Gwangju. The teacher was pleasant and skilled, and pointed us to a stack of project catalogs. We selected a simple pencil box since time was an issue. What we really wanted to learn was the technique of bleaching hanji paper, which this project Pictured. Long story short, we ended up with plain, unbleached boxes, but the class was a major success because we learned of this tool, perfect for smoothing paper and getting it into corners of boxes. Win.

Spectacular

The performance in Gwangju was full of awesomeness. Kudos to Holly, Brooke, Jenny, and, of course, the superstar performers. Well done.

Shabu Shabu

The Provincial Mayor of Gwangju, this city of 1.5 million, hosted our group for an elegant shabu shabu dinner last night. It was a traditional sit-on-the-floor restaurant where we cooked veggies, beef, seafood and more kinds of mushrooms than I've ever seen before in a hot-pot of broth on the table. No octopus for me, but many were consumed by our group.

Go, Brooke!

Our Fearless Leader is now the newest Kimchi Ambassador of Gwangju!

Wet...But Wonderful

Today was the ribbon cutting ceremony at Choong Hyun Babies Home and Memorial, a Korean War orphanage turned Korean adoptee center. It poured rain, so much so that the Chang Mi dancers had to cancel their (outdoor) performance. The center is fantastic in many ways, with traditional buildings restored beautifully and quite a history.

Hanji Heaven

Wow! What a day. Kat and I left Seoul early this morning and took the train to Jeonju, the center of hanji paper-making. Visited a folk village, and then the event we'd been most anticipating: the Jeonju Hanji Museum! We learned ALL there is to know about the paper-making process, AND got to make our own hanji paper! in Gwangju now, ironing dance dresses and getting ready for the first performance tomorrow.

Beauty

Three of our dancers tried out Korean facial masks last night. The masks must have been good ones; the girls looked spectacular today, especially the birthday girl!

Nanta!

The International Korean Adoption Services (INKAS) group sponsored our entire group tonight for the TOTALLY fabulous show, Nanta, that pretty much defies description. Half culinary arts, half drumming, it was gut-bustingly funny. Three from our group were called up on stage.

Dongdaemun Market

We wrapped up our shopping day at another old, traditional market, Dongdaemun. We walked through the coolest of all food markets before we reached our destination, the hanbok (traditional clothing) part of Dongdaemun, which consists of no fewer than a zillion individual vendors. Early day tomorrow as we move to Gwangju, so watch for more photos then.

Itaewon shopping

While the rest of our group had a cooking lesson (chap chae), we did a few errands at Itaewon, a popular tourist market near the big U.S. military base. Craving a cold drink (and simplicity), lunch was at McDonalds: bulgogi burgers.

Namdaemun Market

Today was market day. First stop: Namdaemun, the only place I know where you can buy knock-off designer anything next to chicken feet (cooked or raw) and hanji paper. One guess what we were shopping for.

More photos...

Find the rest of today's photos at www.flickr.com/photos/thehanjicrew

Oh. My. God.

After this next stop, I was ready to go home...nothing could possibly top this small but amazing Hanji supply shop. Our friend Jenny stumbled onto this place a few years ago, but this was our first visit. The items on display were samples -- just there to illustrate the depth of this store's supplies. It's three flights up in an old building in an alley. Who would ever guess it holds such treasures?

Dance prop shop

Where else would a group of Korean dancers go shopping? This street near Insadong market is lined with stores that cater to traditional Korean performers, with shops overflowing with drums, fans, masks, hats, hair decorations and more. Costumes were ordered and supplies purchased: check.

Seoul subway

Clean, fast and efficient, we took to the subway today.

A visit to the Target offices in Seoul

This was super interesting... One of our group arranged a visit to this buying office who source clothing from Asia for Target stores. Thanks, Amy!

Oops!

Make that Flickr URL www.flickr.com/photos/thehanjicrew , then click on the photo stream and click on sets.

Our hotel has a stand with red bean paste fish like this one, right outside the door. Ooooooh, so good! Also fresh fruit and fried things on sticks. Street food all the time, like a year-round state fair.

More photos coming soon!

Want to see more photos?

I'll dump my photos every day into our Flickr.com account:
www.flickr.com/photos/hanjicrew

Click on thehanjicrew photo stream link on the right side of the page, then click Sets on the photo stream page... Click on Korea trip2012.

Dinner Monday

Jenny met us at the airport, we rented our phones and we checked into our hotel (small room, but fantastic location in an area surrounded by large colleges = restaurants galore, super shopping). Dinner at a big hot-pot-style bulgogi restaurant. Yum. Slept fine, but up by 5 a.m.

Photos

We made it! Endured our 14-hour Asiana flight from Chicago to Seoul, including this bibimbahp lunch. No wifi in the hotel so I'm catching up Tues. morning from Dunkin' Donuts. More photos coming on Flickr... Stay tuned!

(Almost) on our way... on the train to the international terminal in Chicago.

It's time to pack up for the big trip...hard to believe we're heading to hanji heaven in a few days!

What's new with the Hanji Crew?

It's been one of those months -- in a good way. Super busy. Way fun. Great sales at the Chang Mi Korean Dance Benefit, and at Lunar New Year celebrations in Madison and Milwaukee.

The Year of the Dragon is something to celebrate, and we've been focusing on dragon stuff -- pictures, boxes and our newest venture, dog tag necklaces and keychains. We used one of our most popular hanji designs and a little Photoshop magic to dress up a traditional dragon for 2012.


We added some of our new dragons along with more awesome creations to our new Etsy online shop. Stop by. We plan to update the shop with new items frequently, so our latest hanji will be showcased there.



Here's a preview:

What's next?

The next hanji workshop is Sunday, February 19, 1-4 at Korean Heritage House. We'll bring all the hanji supplies; you pick the project. As usual, shoot us an email to register and tell us what you'd like to make so we're sure to have all the supplies. thehanjicrew@yahoo.com.

We've got a few sales coming up as well.

Children's Home Society and Family Services Adoption Celebration
March 10, 11:00 - 3:00
University of Minnesota Field House

We'll be selling our latest hanji items and doing demonstrations. This event was a blast last year -- add it to your calendar.

Craftstravaganza
May 12
We're part of this huge urban craft fair on the Minnesota State Fairgrounds this year.