Taking Our Chop One Step Further

Remember the chop that our friend Barbara brought back from Korea for us? My clever and talented niece, Claudette, turned that design into an embroidered patch with her super sewing machine. Now Kat and I can have something fun to wear at classes and sales.

Speaking of classes and sales, they're coming up. Check the website for information.

Frame it Up

I picked up some cheap, unfinished wood picture frames at Ikea last week, figuring this might be a good project for (what else?) hanji paper. I was right.

I wanted to use a new sheet of hanji paper, one with variegated colors. The paper is pretty thin, so I first added a solid-color paper layer just to cover the frame so the wood grain of the frame wouldn't show through the colorful paper. The traditional paste is just flour and water.

You can see the fibers of the paper in this first layer of paper.

Once the first layer was done, I added paste to the colorful paper and wrapped that around the frame, covering both the front and the back.

To dress it up, I cut a Korean word (joy) to add to one corner.

Not bad for a $1 frame!

Experimenting With a New Little Light

At our work day on Saturday, Kat experimented with the best way to make little votive candle covers -- like a lampshade for a tiny candle. She started with a sheet of adhesive styrene, and added cut designs to the adhesive side of the translucent styrene. On top of the design, Kat added a piece of light hanji paper, so the design was sandwiched between the plastic and the paper. She formed this into a ring that would circle the candle.

We opted for battery tea lights (safety first!) vs. candles, and Kat is trying different adhesives to connect the paper ring, so we're sure they'll stay connected.

These turned out beautifully. By the end of the day, Kat had a line-up of various sizes and colors, all lovely. What a fun project! Wouldn't these make a fun project to offer at one of our classes?

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 New Identity

Our friend Barb returned last week from a wonderful trip to Korea with her family. She braved the hot and humid weather to do some shopping in the artists' district in Seoul, Insadong, for us. Kat and I bought chops on our last trip (think rubber stamps only much more cool) of our names in Korean. But we had hoped Barb could locate a vendor who could make Hanji Crew chops. She did an amazing job! The chops (two of them, one large, one small) are a work of art. Even the packaging was gorgeous.

Here's what it looks like... we'll be able to mark our items with this. It's our new identity -- a signature.

Of course, what's a trip to Insadong without buying some paper? Again, Barb showed she's got what it takes. A lovely selection that Kat has no doubt already begun to turn into something special.

THANKS BARB!

Mother and Child

I had dinner a few weeks ago with my friend Gail. She admired the hanji pendant I was wearing and asked me to make one for her.

The design is one of my favorites. In its full glory, the cut pattern is a traditional Korean farm house, and in the doorway, a mother sits holding a baby. As with all hanji designs, this is a single piece of paper, a cut design you can pick up and move.

For the pendant, I cut just the very center portion of the design. First, I photocopy the design (in this case, it's from one of my traditional Korean hanji design books). I cut about an inch around that center section I need. Next, I stack up two or three pieces of hanji paper, in this case some black and some brown, and I staple the photocopied pattern to the hanji paper.

Using an x-acto knife, I cut out the design. Again, the whole cut pattern will be in one piece -- as long as I stay true to the pattern!

I cut colored paper to attach to the underside of the cut design, stained-glass style. When I'm making a pendant, I use some Mod Podge (blast from the past, right? From decopage days?), to attach the colors to the design. Once the colors are in place, I Mod Podge the entire design, sealing the paper so I can add glaze without breaking down any of the paper fibers.

When the design is dry, I add a few drops of a 3-D lacquer and attach a glass tile. I let that dry, then cut the excess paper from around the tile. Add a bail (hanger) and it's done!