Hanji Happenings

I'm finally back at my desk for a short while before heading off to see my family in Australia and I'd like to  share with you one of the artistic highlights of my time in Europe.  Over the few months, prior to going on holiday, I began corresponding with a lovely lady, Ulla Brunn from Denmark. She wrote  telling me of her love for making boxes and her interest in the fact that I made boxes out of Hanji paper.  We exchanged some information and made plans to meet up in Copenhagen in July.  Her work was exquisite and I was very interested to talk to her about the methods she uses for making her boxes and to compare it with those I use in Hanji.  Ulla and myself looking at her boxes Some of Ulla's box designs are based on those of another Danish lady who lived in the late 18th and early 19th Century called Kamma Rahbek. Kamma's work can be seen in the Bakkehust Museum in Copenhagen so Ulla and I went together to visit, and see first h...

I'm taking a break  from Hanji for a while as I head off on summer break...... I don't know how easy it's going to be to post whilst I'm away but if I get an opportunity and I have anything I think you might be interested in, then you may see a post or two pop up in the next 6 weeks. If you live in the Northern hemisphere I hope you all enjoy your summer break  and if you're currently going through winter  in the Southern hemisphere my wish is that you'll find lots of Hanji projects to keep you going.

I've just received a new batch of papers from Korea and some, are quite different from anything I've ever used before.  I first saw them when I visited Korea last year and I excitedly brought some home and they've just sat in my drawer waiting for an inspirational project that I felt was right for them.  When this new batch arrived with  more different designs I felt that I should to try one out. It's a bleaching paper with a rubberised design on top.  I was unsure at first what I'd use it for and how well it'd mold to the cardboard but, even though it's fairly thick,  as long as I applied enough glue it was as easy to use as any other paper. I decided to make a bowl with a lid and this is how it looks.  There are several different designs in this type of paper, from Chinese calligraphy to waves and geometric designs and this, a classic looking flowery one, but they're all stunning and I'm looking forward to usin...

Cardboard cameras by Kiel Johnson. If you've ever wondered what else you can do with your left over pieces of  cardboard then take a look at these amazing cardboard cameras.  American painter and sculptor Kiel Johnson crafts meticulously stunning cardboard recreations of every kind — from vintage Polaroids to 8mm, point and shoots, twin lens and SLRs.  

I've just completed another umbrella stand and this time I've chosen a crinkled Hanji paper to give the piece texture and an almost marble type effect.  On the top and bottom I've used a pale blue underneath the beige coloured cut out, as a trim,  and it's papered inside with a piece of Hanji that has small Chinese writing on it. As I was papering the pot I had it lying on my table and guess who ...... decided it was a comfortable  place to sleep. I didn't think he'd stay there long once I started working on the piece but he wasn't phased by me having to rotate it every few minutes to put on the paper as he just  moved his position inside  and continued sleeping.  The joys of being a cat .......

Any aspiring carpenters out there would find doing Hanji a great alternative.  This is  true for one of my students, Sue Fine, who decided she needed a bedside table. Using some of the techniques she's learnt in her Hanji classes, she designed and made a bedside table that is practical and yet very stylish. Sue chose a red, black and white theme to match her carpet with the bold Chinese and Korean writing on the outside,  red inside the drawer and it's all edged in black. The options for designing your own pieces are limitless and working with cardboard instead of wood is so much easier.  You can choose your own colours and designs to match your decor and easily complete a project in a weekend. I look forward to seeing more of Sue's creations in the future.

I've finally finished my Hanji picture set. There are three pictures and each one features a different cutout that is a hanji design.  No paper wastage  !! You need to do a series of cutouts on the same piece of paper and you'll end up with the template for your pictures  plus a lot of cutout designs that you can use for your projects.   From there you have a variety of different options of how to personalise the templates.  I've chosen three different styles, one using different colours set in a pattern and another where they were placed at random and thirdly using a single colour. This was a fun project and one you could try for yourselves !!