Hanji Happenings

 Life moves very quickly these days and I'm fortunate that mine is full of continuing with my passion, and enjoying the company of wonderful friends and spending time with my amazing family. I enjoy the company of my students who come to my studio to learn Hanji. They are my sounding board for a lot of my projects and as I often feel very isolated doing this traditional Korean craft here in Australia with no peers in which to bounce ideas off of, I appreciate their shared excitement in making items using Hanji techniques. Some of the students have been coming for over 3 years now and they're still finding different projects they'd like to make as well as spending time making unique gifts for family and friends. In between classes I manage to make Hanji pieces to place in our local art gallery as well as  creating unique pieces of my own.  Here's a pieces I've just completed and which can be found in many shops as you walk through the Insadong district in Seoul so th...

Beginner Hanji Classes  When:                   May 2nd - June 6th                             10.30 am - 12.30pm Where:                 Station master's Art Gallery ' Red Hen' workshop                            20 South Terrace,                             Strathalbyn, South Australia Phone:               +61(08) 8536 4263 Level:                ...

A Korean take on what I'm doing .......  Here's an article that was written for the Yonhap Newspaper in Sydney by Ki Sung Kim.  He was a very friendly interviewer and we spent close to 45 mins chatting.  The article was written in Korean and has been translated thanks to  Jin Youn Kim. A little has been lost, or slightly misinterpreted in translation but it gives you the basics and his twist on it.   An Australian Female Hanji Missionary Coveney, "Amazed at Practicality" Jan Coveney, an Australian female 'hanji missionary' is posing for photo with one of her pieces displayed at the Korean Cultural Center, Sydney on 14, February.       "Most of the people around me have not even heard of Hanji craft but they get interested in it when they receive presents made of the Korean traditional paper and see the endless potential of the material." Jan Coveney, an Adelaidean woman, has been spreading out the artis...

Here is a new Hanji lamp I've made especially for my current exhibition. I wanted to mix some old techniques of cutouts with one of my  newer, more modern looking paper
s. The paper has threads of green, blue yellow and pink mixed in with a pale blue pulp that's been rather sparsely placed over a white background. I've placed a butterfly of varying colour shades on each of its sides so that it looks like they're trying to get into the windows of the lamp. The butterfly means joy and conjugal love in Korean folklore so I’ve combined both the traditional and non traditional aspects of Hanji to highlight the intertwining of modern Korean society with their traditional past.


My Hanji exhibition is officially open and it was a memorable evening on Thursday night when people gathered around at Mrs Harris' Art Studio to  look at Hanji crafts. There was a wonderful atmosphere of anticipation as people came by to see what Hanji was all about, to have drinks & nibbles and to hear some impromptu speeches in an informal setting outside the shop.  Here in Australia, the Thursday before Easter is NOT the ideal time to have an Exhibition opening. Many people take the opportunity to escape the city for the 4 day holiday break but with time restraints on getting the Exhibition set up, and to have it open for a full month before I head to Korea, the Gallery owner and myself took a gamble and were pleasantly surprised at the turn out it attracted.  Family, friends and strangers came and were amazed at the broad range of articles that can be made with Hanji and were fascinated by it's lightness, durability and practicality for everyday use...

I had a query this week from someone who doesn't live in Korea anymore but he's wanting to know how to make this lamp. So in case anyone else was wondering, it's quite a simple process which I will share with you. Get a piece of perspex, or a very sturdy plastic sheet around 2 - 3mm thick and cut into 4 equal sizes, depending on the size of the lamp you want to make. Glue the sides together with an instant glue to make a perfect square and being careful not to get the glue outside of the joins or on your fingers. Paper the perspex using one whole piece to minimize the joins in the paper. Leave to dry. Cut a base out of 3mm thick cardboard so the sides fit into it and it has a small plinth. (Don't forget to put the hole in the base for the electrical fittings). Cut small strips of cardboard for around the outside. One with a hole in it for the electric cord to come out of. Cover the strips of cardboard with different coloured papers. Glue the strips onto ...

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...

My time has suddenly got busier as I prepare for my Hanji Exhibition, 'HANJI - ..from paper to purpose', in April.  It seems ages away but I know all too well that time will fly and with other commitments along the way I'd hate to run out of time and not complete the tasks I've set for myself.  I'm one of those annoying people who have to get things just right and I probably spend too much time on achieving the highest level I possibly can but I guess that's what makes me the person I am and makes my work unique.  I have lists written up all around the room for things I'd like to achieve each day and sometimes I do all of them plus some, and others, there's no way it's going to happen. I guess they'll all out-way each other in the long run and the main thing is that everything gets done in the end. Renovations on our house are almost complete and we're really pleased with what we've achieved to make our living more comfo...

Just to update you all, I really haven't fallen off the edge of the planet !! I think this has been the longest break I've taken over the last 4 years, from writing my Hanji blog but, my Hanji interests are very much still alive and well. Since my return to Adelaide I've realized that I needed to take a step back from Hanji for a few months to decide exactly what direction I'd like my business to take during 2015 and beyond. Sometimes it's good to take time to reflect on what is important to us and certainly having  time back here in Australia with my family and friends, is one of them and setting up my Hanji business is another.  If it's of any help to those in similar situations, here are just a few of the lessons I've learnt over the last few months: 1) I've found that I can't just continue  where I left off in the UAE but instead, I need time to build local networks. (As I'm sure you're aware, doing Hanji outside of Kore...

Sadly I'll be leaving the UAE in a few weeks time to settle back in Australia. It's going to be a huge move for my husband and I after an absence of nearly 15 years from our homeland but one that I'm looking forward to as I'm reunited with my family and I start a new chapter of teaching and learning Hanji back in Adelaide, Australia. Sue Fine, Anna Bailey, Diana Johnson, Monica Sturgess, Tricia O'Shea, myself, Christina & Arlette Van Veerdegem Over the last few months here in RAK, and with the last of the Hanji classes  winding down, the students  had been thinking of what to do to as a final farewell before I leave.  Diana piped up with, 'Why don't we have a Hanji Exhibition?'. I thought about it  and very quickly decided that there couldn't be any better  way to celebrate the classes than by getting everyone together and showcasing the students' amazing achievements.    I ran it past a few people and they were excited at the id...

For an interesting textured effect and to create something that's quite unique you can use fabric under your Hanji paper. I found this set of drawers being made in the Hanji Doori store in Insadong, Seoul. I've never seen this effect before so was fascinated to have it explained to me by Catherine. Here you can see that strips of a very course  burlap   or hessian have been glued on to the top of this set of drawers to give it an interesting  texture, as well as a unique look. It was then covered with a thick black paper and lightly bleached to accentuate the weave. On the drawer fronts a finer fabric, possibly a finer burlap but I'm sure you could use anything that has texture, has been glued onto the cardboard before applying two coats of paper. The fabric has been placed in different directions on each drawer to give them all an individual look.   Although I'm not a great lover of the colour purple I do love the graded colours of these ...

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...