South Korea Vacation Part 24 - Class with my Chilbo Teacher Part 2 - Kim Nan-Young

I had three days of chilbo (Korean enameling) lessons with Kim Nan-Young. The second and third day we made tiles to fit into wood boxes handmade by her fiancé, and yes, I said fiancé. More on that later.

I love watching her work.

           After the background color is fired, the pattern is painted on. The design is by Nan-Young.

I have a video of Nan-Young doing her magic. I love her dialogue as she creates. You can just see and hear how much she loves what she does:

 

                         After the design is painted on, then you add all the beautiful enamel colors.

 

 

Here are the three finished boxes. They were handmade by Nan-Young's fiancé. She told me once she would never marry again. Her ex-husband drank a lot and was physically abusive. She left him years ago but I found out this trip that he had died a few years ago, a direct result of his drinking.

She met a fellow artist and the rest is history. He did drink occasionally and also smoked. She told him she would not marry him unless he gave up both and he did. The only problem is that he lives in the country about an hour north of Gwangju. Nan-Young being firmly planted in Suwon.

So they were to marry in December and I haven't confirmed if the did at this time. Nan-Young was going to commute between the two cities. She would spend Monday through Thursday in the country and then Friday through Sunday in Suwon. It sounded grueling to me but she was so very happy. Her fiancé had a beautiful home and lots of land. Next time we go to Korea, we want to visit them.

                                                          His wood skills are fantastic.

I was thrilled with all the I made at Nan-Young's and everything made it home just fine. It was so good to spend time with her.