Hanji Happenings

I don't normally write about any comments I get regarding my blog posts but this week I had an enlightening comment from an Artist called Tahiti Pehrson. I must admit I hadn't heard of him before  until he saw the article I posted on Psaligraphy by Karen Bit Vejle and he commented, 'Beautiful work. I had never heard that word: Psaligraphy. Had no idea I was a Psaligraphist.' I was intrigued to see what he did so I checked out his website   and found his amazing work.  "Yes, you certainly are a Psaligraphist Tahiti", although the Dictionary definition for Psaligraphy is, 'the art of cutting silhouettes out of paper' which doesn't quite seem to explain the intricacies of your work in my opinion.  Tahiti is from Northern California and his recent pieces have explored the interconnectivity between the fragility of paper and physical structures. Many of his pieces can be seen at his exhibitions in the States and the UK as well as...

Waterlily with the light on behind it Ever since I visited Korea last year I've wanted to try a new technique of making flowers out of layers of paper. With my busy schedule it didn't happen straight away but finally, nearly 18 months later, I've found the time to experiment and produce something along similar lines. I first saw these flowers in OM's studio in Seoul where she'd made some exhibition pieces, lamps, cupboards, tables etc that were covered in flowers similar to these and they were amazing. She  really inspired me therefore I needed to try making them myself.   I've just finished constructing a large metre high, 6 sided lamp and so I thought that this would be the ideal structure for adding some of these sculptured flowers. I wanted to keep the lamp decorations simple and yet stylish, decorated and yet understated and I think I've been able to achieve that. It's taken me a while to get to where I'm happy with wh...

You may be interested in reading this article on 'Hanji' by Hanji Natty written as the first in a series of three for the 'Strategic Promotion for Success team' for Etsy. It's great to see someone else with a passion for making things with Hanji !! Well done Natalie.

During my recent visit to India I took the opportunity to visit Kagzi handmade paper factory in the district of Sanganer, 16 kms south of  Jaipur in the state of Rahjastan.  It's famous for it's handmade paper industry, textile printing and for Jain temples. Around 10 handmade paper industries are present in Sanganer so I was interested to see the difference between how they made paper in India and the way the Korean 'Hanji' is made. The process of manually manufacturing handmade paper, in either country, has changed very little over the centuries, despite all the advances in technologies but it's useful to note, that paper making started in Korea somewhere between 200 - 500 AD whereas it was only introduced into India in 1728. Therefore, Korea has by far a much longer history of paper making. There are generally around five steps in making paper: 1. Separating the  fiber from the rest of raw materials. (e. g. cellulose from wood, cotton, etc.) 2. Be...

Luana Rubin, Pam Holland and myself Well I have finally stopped travelling for a while and I now plan on having more time to devote to myself, my family and to Hanji. I've been fortunate enough to have spent the last 3 months travelling throughout Europe, on holiday with my husband, then back to Australia to spend time with my three children and their families and on Saturday I returned from a 2 week trip to India with my sister, Pam Holland, and her friend, Luana Rubin. I have so many fresh ideas for what I'd like to achieve in the next few years that I'm feeling quite excited at what the future holds for myself and my love of Hanji. Before travelling I was wondering how I'd cope being away from my Hanji studio for such a long time and not being able to create something tangible everyday but in heinsight, I think it's done the soul good to redirect my energies and to can come back to what I love best, afresh and renewed. During my tr...