Hanji - The Korean Medicine Cabinet Part 8

              In hanji class on Thursday, I finished covering each cubby hole with hanji paper.  It took me awhile to get into my groove but I them finished in about an hour.
                                       Next came the front two doors of the cabinet.

                                      I had to cover each door with white hanji paper.

       Next came the Chinese characters that decorate each of the small drawers.  They come in pairs and I have to cut each one out.  The hanji paper she chose is very thick and it was difficult to cut through.

                            After a character is completely cut out, it is glued onto black hanji paper.

                         This is what I had completed by the end of class.  This will go onto two drawer fronts.

 I also had two more sets cut out but then needed to be glued to the black hanji paper.

 She also sent me home with more homework.  This will frame the doors in the center of the cabine

My hanji teacher also had these beautiful lamps in class that she had just finished for a customer.  They are handpainted by a Korean artist and then my teacher makes them into a lamp.  I asked her how much for one and she said the painting was 30,000 WON ($25 USD) and the lampmaking was 70,000 WON for a total of 100,000 WON ($87 USD).  I'm thinking about ordering one.

Rocketman had another dinner so I decided to head to Home Plus after hanji.  I wanted some curl in my hair and decided if there wasn't a lot of people at the hair salon in Home Plus, I would give it a go.  The hair salon was pretty dead so I went in and requested a perm which is the same word in Korean.  i also wanted my bangs trimmed.

They couldn't decide who would have to do the foreigner and after about 10 minutes, one of the stylists came forward to direct me to her chair.  I guess she lost.  She didn't understand I just wanted some curl when a red headed and I mean red like fire engine red came in and they called him over immediately.  He spoke really good English.

He said they were hesitant to give me a perm since my hair was already damaged.  I said that it was always damaged and that was ok.  We talked back and forth for another 10 minutes until I told them to just do it.  I didn't care.  I also told him I wanted the chemical perm like a Western perm.  I had told him that I had received a perm in Korea before and the perm lasted until a left the salon.

She put the rollers into my hair and used the electric cooker which heats up each roller.  Then she unrolled me and put on the chemicals.  When she washed my hair, there was no curl.  No kidding!  I had told them.  So the red head guy helped her to reroll me but with larger rollers than I usually have in the States.  But they did the chemicals just like the States.

When they unrolled it, it was pretty straight still.  So they took everything out and in record time, rerolled my hair with thinner rollers like I had gotten in the States.  Third times a charm.  This whole ordeal took 5 hours!  I'm not kidding.  Rocketman came and got a haircut while I was going through the third rolling.  He didn't mind waiting because he had his ITouch. 

This is how it turned out.  I don't know how long the curls will last but at least I have some curl until I wash it.  Maybe I'll never wash my hair!  I just wish they would have listened to me in the first place and saved all this time.  It can be very frustrating.

Tiger Chilbo (Korean Enameling) Jewelry Box

 I finished the tiger jewelry box this week in chilbo class.  I am so thrilled with how it turned out.  I made it for my son, Luke.  I hope he loves it as much as I do and at least, he will have a keepsake from his mom's time in South Korea.

 I also had my chilbo test and metal guy came to help interpret the written test for me.  His English is a little more than my Korean.

 But he had his Smartphone handy to help with his English as we navigated the ten questions together.  The questions were multiple choice.

                          After I finished the written part of the test, it was time to do the practical. 

                               Metal guy also told me what to do while Nan was grading my test.

This was the piece I had to make and submit to the Korean Enamel Association.  I got one question wrong on the written test so I scored 90% and still passed.  WooHoo!  Metal guy even gave me a ride home so I didn't have to bother with the bus.  That was so nice of him.

Hanji - The Korean Medicine Cabinet Part 7

 Monday when I got to hanji class, I found my cabinet looking like this.  I finished up the final leg and then it was time to finish the entire underside.

 That took the better part of an hour.  Every tiny serface was covered a second time, this time with black hanji paper.

 Then it was time to put cover the inside of every drawer in the front of the cabinet.

 I'm so lucky that my teacher measures and precuts my hanji paper for me.  Everyone else has to cut their own paper.

 I'm also learning what this is.  I call it a scrapper but in hanji it is called a haeder.  It is very important in hanji and helps to smooth the hanji paper.

 I used the brush to brush on hanji glue to one side of the compartment.  I placed the paper onto the wall, lining it up approximately 1mm from the opening and then using the haeder to smooth.

This is what it looked like with both sides done.

 Next came the roof.  Also, when you finish placing a piece of paper, you coat it with glue.

                                                        Followed by the bottom.

 Finishing with the back.  If you weren't counting, that was five pieces of hanji paper for each box.

 My teacher helped me to lay the cabinet flat which made it easier to work on.  This is how it looked as I worked.  My fingers become so covered with glue that I have a hard time telling the right side (smooth) from the wrong side which is sometimes just a little rougher.  She has a bucket of water outside the shop for us to clean our hands in.  I had to do that several times during the afternoon.

 Here is what it looked like when I left for the day.  Only six more to go.  I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  But I still have a lot more left to do.  I am going back Thursday and Friday this week.

She had also sent me home last week with homework.  This is for the front door panels.  I was working on bojagi all weekend and took a break from hanji.  She wanted to know if I had finished it yet so that's what I've been working on today.  It is cutting through three layers which is pretty difficult.  I hope to have it finished when I go to class on Thursday. Ooooyyyy, I'm a busy girl.

A Visit to the Cat Cafe in Seoul

 I've been missing our kitty back home, Louie, so when we found the Cat Cafe during a recent visit to Hongdae, we knew we had to check it out.

If you walk by the bobbing bowl of noodles, you have just passed it.  It's right next door on the third floor.

                                                             This is the entrance.

This is the door to the Cat Cafe.

 When you enter, you are told to remove your shoes and put on some slippers.  One size fits most but Rocketman managed anyway.  You also have to sanitize your hands.  They take this cat business pretty seriously.

 Next you go to the counter where we paid 8000 WON ($7.50 USD) which included a beverage.  We were also given this sheet with how to behave in the cat cafe.  They really are protective of the kitties.

 Then we found a seat.  They also had me put my purse into a cabinet because the cats would be drawn to it.

                                                    They had all sorts of breeds.

                                                            They even had a hairless cat. 

 

 They had lots of places for cats to sleep and play.

                     This guy goes out to the corner and tries to direct business up to the cat cafe.

 I had never seen a bengal cat in person and Rocketman had no idea it had a name.  It really was a beautiful cat.

                              They also had the litter boxes out of sight but easily accessible to the cats. 
 This is where you pay and order your drinks.

                               It also was a hot place to take a date.  We found many couples here.

 Rocketman loves kitties almost as much as I do.  But whenever I would ask if we could get another one, he didn't hesitate to say, "NO."

                                    There were a lot of picture taking going on.

                                                           And a lot of sleeping.

                                       I have never seen a cat do that with it's legs.

                        So many young couples.  We were by far the oldest in the place.

This kitty loved to sit on this purse.

I also got the see a "scottish fold" kitty.  It's called that because of the folded ears.  I couldn't believe all the different breeds we saw at the Cat Cafe.  It was an afternoon of smiles and we had so much fun with all the kitties.

I also shot a couple of videos while we were there: