Early Holidays

Kat got an order to make holiday ornaments for a senior center, and she recently finished them all, a shining example of what we call "fusion hanji," using our traditional mulberry paper and techniques with a nontraditional design.

The results, as usual, were spectacular. Those seniors will get quite a treat this holiday season.

Still in the holiday mood, Kat added these snow globes to our inventory. We've got some holiday sales coming up in the fall, so it's never too early to get a good start.

Happy holidays!

Shedding Some Light

This is Kat's newest creation, a simple lamp with a large tiger paper cutting. Stunning! Once she had this one done, we came up with a bunch of ideas that could work with this... pretty limitless possibilities.

Now, if we just had time to try some of them.

A Passion for Paper

I first brought my daughters to Korean Saturday school in 1994 in an attempt to bring a taste of Korean culture into their lives, not just for a week in the summer at Korean Culture Camp, but all year. And yes, the girls did learn some history, get a taste of Korean language, make a first step into Korean dance, and most importantly, meet new friends. But perhaps the biggest take-away from our years at Korean Institute of Minnesota was my introduction to hanji, Korea's traditional papercraft that uses a strong-fibered paper made from the bark of mulberry trees native to Korea's mountainsides.

The Saturday school classes for adopted Korean kids met for three hours. It was across town, too far away to drop them off and return. There were two parent classes offered the semester we joined: Korean language and hanji class. I had no idea what hanji class was, but the thought of joining the language class was too intimidating. What a good choice I made! We had an excellent instructor from Korea, and to this day, when I'm cutting a design or assembling a box, I can still hear her voice in my head, encouraging us all to guide our x-acto knives exactly on the pattern lines. Not 1/8" off; not 1/16" off. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.

It has gone from hobby to obsession, and along the way, I've picked up (some would say brainwashed) others to join me in the pursuit of all things hanji. We make it, sell it, share it, teach it, and most of all, love it. There's always something new to hanji, and this will be a fun way to document our progress.