Hanji Happenings

This week I've tried to maximize my time and instead of cutting Hanji items out of cardboard by hand, I decided to piece together some of the kits I've collected over the years. Many of these kits are more than 10 years old and have been with me since I left Korea and during my travels to different countries around the world. These days I usually cut out my own items using a thick cardboard and a very sharp craft knife using one of the patterns I've drawn up.  The beauty of this is that because of a lot of trial and correction over the years I now know that everything fits nicely. There's always the odd occasion when lines aren't cut as precisely as they should be and small tweaks need to be made, but they're usually very easily correctable. What I've found is that I can't assume that the kits are going to be better and quicker as well as producing a more precise article. You would expect that this would be the case with machinery doi...

 2015 is shaping up to be one of my most exciting Hanji years yet. I'll be holding a Hanji exhibition here in Adelaide entitled 'Hanji - from paper to purpose', from April 3rd to 26th at Mrs Harris' Shop Gallery in Torrensville, just 10 mins from the city of Adelaide. This means a lot of work between now and then as I look forward to making some new pieces of Hanji, including a new photographic collection as well as a Traditional Korean and a modern collection. I will not only display and have for sale pieces of my Hanji but also, I'll be explaining what Hanji is all about with posters and pictures of paper making, along with hands on demonstrations and an audio visual display. As far as I'm aware this is a first for Adelaide  and I look forward to including the Korean community in this event. After the exhibition I'll be heading to South Korea to attend the Jeonju Hanji Culture festival which is expected to take place on the first week...

As I've often mentioned, it's almost impossible to get books in English or in Korean on Hanji crafts  therefore, on my recent trip to South Korea it was one of my goals to source as many books as I could from the home of Hanji.   Over the years I've been looking both online and in book stores all over the world for any Hanji books I can find in English  and unfortunately, I've only come up with a very small selection thus far. During my trip to Seoul earlier this month it was important for me to go and check out the largest book store in Seoul, Kyobo, to see what they might have.  Finding the shop after so many years was quite easy  and the taxi driver knew exactly where to take me so once in the store I rushed up to the English counter and after some communication problems it was finally decided that there was nothing on Hanji in English. Plan A had failed but it really wasn't a total let down as I suspected this is what might happen but I guess...

I've just returned from a very successful trip to South Korea where I was asked to give a talk titled, 'Hanji - After Korea' which was a presentation on how to continue doing Hanji once you've left and moved overseas.  At first I was quite apprehensive but I felt that I'd learnt so much myself over the last 12 years since leaving Korea that my journey was worth sharing if it was going to help others who wanted to follow in the same path.                             People are creative in different ways and expats in Korea are no exception therefore some decide to try   Hanji crafts during their stay in the country. Why? Because its different to anything they've ever done before. It looks beautiful, it's practical and it's a part of the traditional Korean experience. That can be difficult in itself as getting a Hanji teacher even in Korea, that they can communicate easily with and ask questions about...

This year is racing by and the dates for the annual Jeonju Hanji Culture Festival in Korea for 2014 have just been announced.  When May 3rd to May, 6th, 2014 Address Pungnamdong1-ga, Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si, Jeollabuk-do 전라북도 전주시 완산구 전주천동로 20 (교동) Location Jeonju Hanok Village, Hanji Industry Support Center area Telephone • 1330 Travel Hotline: +82-2-1330 (Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese) • For more info: +82-63-271-2503, +82-63-281-2931 (Korean) Street performers The Hanji Festival is organis...

'Hanji' is the Korean word for paper and Hanji artists work with this amazingly versatile material in many different ways.   The delicate attributes of Hanji paper lends itself to being used in 2 dimensional paintings, using paper instead of paint, and  in 3 dimensional art which includes, moulding the paper over cardboard  and layering and shaping the paper into highly detailed sculptured objects. I recently came across  the work of Cheong-Ah Hwang, a Hanji Artist, in a book called, 'Creative Paper Cutting'.  Cheong-Ah Hwang was born in South Korea and now lives in Ohio, USA.  Her parents ran a print shop in Seoul and as a child she developed an affinity for experimenting and creating with paper.  In the late 1990's she began exploring paper sculptures and studied carefully different artists' works before  experimenting and teaching herself  a variety of techniques that suited the style of pieces she wanted to achieve.  ...

Happy New Year everyone and may 2014 be a year of making more time for yourself and exploring your creativity !!  I 'm excited to be beginning a New Year that I know is going to be full of promise and  a year of challenges both on a personal and an artistic level. After over 13 years of studying and making Hanji craft pieces  in many different countries I'm looking forward to setting up my own Hanji art business operating here in the UAE, Australia, Korea and online.  Along with all this I've given myself the challenge of writing a book in English on Hanji arts and crafts, teaching Hanji classes as well as  continuing to develop my own creative style of the art.  Don't forget to keep checking out my  blog posts, along with browsing my website and Facebook page (please press 'like') to see what's happening in the world of Hanji in 2014.  If you know of any Hanji events, workshops or artists of interest and would like to shar...

Wow!  Where has the time gone!!  Since retiring from teaching ESL here in the UAE I thought I'd have so much more time for writing on my blog and researching for my book  but although these things are important to me it seems that my time has been spent in more creative, hands on pursuits, and it's been great.  I've been working steadily at setting up and running my Hanji classes, designing worksheets for more complex Hanji projects as well as creating ideas for and making new items of my own design. These last few weeks I've been putting together some items for a  'Christmas' Craft stall.  I say that tongue in cheek because for anyone living in the Middle East we all know that Christmas isn't celebrated over here but because the UAE population is made up of 80%  expats from all over the world  it's  an important time for us to think of family and friends back home. It's a time for sending off our Christmas cards and p...

A different idea of how to use Hanji paper. Cut  shapes out of black paper and place coloured hanji paper underneath, then frame them. I'm in the process of making a set of three.  One is framed and the others are currently being designed, a fun project. A great personal gift for someone. Hanji art ready to be mounted and framed Framed hanji picture

I'm currently reading a book by Bae Yong Joon, called, ' A Journey in Search of Korea's Beauty'. Bae Yong Joon is not what you'd call your typical writer. He's  one of East Asia's foremost actors and an ardent supporter of intercultural communication and exchange.  Bae Yong Joon sees staying in touch with Korea's past as important for the future of humanity, and this book is a creative and heartwarming record of the insights he's gained through taking that journey. I'm finding it quite absorbing as this famous, seasoned traveller  takes a journey through his own country, making an effort to take particular notice of the traditions, people, and the beauty of Korea. Reading the book has made me think that so often, I don't appreciate what I grew up with and even what's around me today.  It's so easy to take everything for granted, focusing on our goals, instead of the journey that carries us there. One of the reasons ...

Since my visit to South Korea last year with my Hanji friends and seeing how cutouts are being done on laser printers, I've contemplated the thought that a mini version would be handy to use for small scale projects. I still believe that cutting out the Hanji paper by hand gives so much more satisfaction on personal pieces but, I know that there have been times when I've conducted classes and needed to cut out 20 or more small designs for others to use and thought, if only ....... I was told about a paper shop that sold cutters in different designs so I went to investigate furthur last weekend and came across what I'd been looking for. It's not a bulky, expensive, laser cutting machine, which is what I'd been looking at but, it's a cutting machine which  has a tiny blade and is small enough to fit on the side of my desk with a  connection to my computer and, it didn't break the bank.  The software has a huge range of different patterns and designs to ch...

Here is a list of International Hanji Events for 2013 and their descriptions, written by the respective or ganisers    ........... if you know of any others  I'd love to hear from you so we can all share in what is going on in this every globalising world of Hanji. KOREA        Jeonju Hanji Festiva l   I've been to this event and it's absolutely amazing.  The Hanji  Artists   from around     the country come together to show their best work   for the year. I remember when I was in Korea my teacher was   showing her work and it was hailed as a must visit   event for anyone   interested in Hanji. The Korean Men and 'Ajimah's' are very  serious   about producing the  most amazing pieces of  furniture,  boxes,   screens  and lamps.  I was  blown away by what I saw.      When: - p...