Magnolias update 1 ......

Over the last few weeks I've been working on a cutout of magnolias. It's rather a large piece around 30cms by 20 cms and I think at this stage I'll use them for the sides of a box.

I've been taking the cutout piece along to our hanji group each week as I find that I need to be doing something that I can stop at anytime if the ladies have questions about their work. They're generally quite confident but there's always that new project that we may need to talk about or the need for a spare pair of hands to hold things together whilst the glue dries.

Most of us in the group have been meeting for nearly 2 years now and together we've produced some great items. Mainly lamps but small boxes of different shapes and sizes as well. Working in a group helps us all to bounce ideas off one another and to share a common interest whilst enjoying one another's company.

I've printed off a spare copy of the magnolias cutouts and I've now shaded in the colours I'd like. This gives me an idea of what the overall look of the cutout will be and also shows where I'll need to place the coloured paper.

This will be the template for colouring the cutout. For the Magnolias I'll place white paper behind the cutout pieces and then, as I want the pinks to be subtly shaded, use coloured pencils to give the desired effect. I'll do something similar for the leaves by placing a light green behind the leaves and then shade them in with a darker green coloured pencil. To give some contrast to the pinks and greens I'm putting in a 2 toned blue strip around the centre piece.

This is a bit of an experiment but I'll keep you posted as to how it's going in the coming weeks.

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Lotus symbol in Korean culture .....

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Online Hanji paper store, in English .....

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