Hanji People with My Chilbo (Enameling) Teacher Nan-Young

You read that right. I took a hanji people class taught by my chilbo teacher, Nan-Young. They were so much fun to make and I was thrilled they got back to the States just like you see them above.

                                                        The kits started out like this.

      They took a few hours to make and it would have taken longer if not for Nan-Young helping me.

As we were working, a local Suwon television station producer came in along with the host. They wanted to interview me for their show about my love of Korea and especially the street where Nan-Young's shop is. The hostess spoke pretty good English so she could ask questions for me to answer.

After my interview was done, she went outside with the producer and film crew to shoot the "cold open." I grabbed my video camera and took filmed a little bit of it.

 

                           Here are my finished hanji people along with me and Nan-Young.

Lunch with My Hanji Teacher and Her Kids - April 2013

I went to lunch with my hanji teacher and her kids.  When I met her kids, her daughter had just returned from living a year in Canada and her English was excellent. Hreraughter is 18 and her son is 17 and he wants to be chef. He loves American food so I brought him an American cookbook with lots of pictures. Her daughter's English name is Hannah and since I already had a Korean Hannah we called her Little Hannah.

She was struggling with her schoolwork load. She told me she leaves for school by 7 am every morning. School ends at 5 pm but she stays every day until 10 pm for extra studying and to complete homework then it's off to the hagwon (private school) from 10 pm - 12 am. She repeats this six days a week. If she has a day off, her mother schedules extra schooling. You could see how tired this poor girl was.

I felt so bad for her. I really don't know how she stands the pressure. I'm not a big fan of the Tiger Mom because of these extremes. While living in Korea this last time, we heard on the news of a 10 year old boy that jumped to his death because he gotten a poor grade on a paper. I'm also not a big fan of our U.S. school system either and I certainly don't have the answers.

We had a wonderful lunch where the dishes kept coming and coming. Sometimes I look at all the banchan (Korean sidedishes) and I feel it's too pretty to eat.

I had visited her hanji shop earlier in the day to meet her and my hanji friend and to pick up the hanji forms I had ordered. I had brought presents for my hanji teacher, her children and my hanji friend. My hanji teacher was so touched she started pulling a collection of hanji paper for me. As she was doing this I walked around and took pictures of the new hanji things that had been created in the year since I had left.

Oh, this was just too beautiful. The next time we live in Korea (I'm dreaming and hoping) I am definitely going to make one of these.

                                                                A close up of the top.

 My hanji teacher created this with two tissue forms and then created the doors. I was in love.

                                                          Oh, I really loved this one!

Here they are picking out paper for me. The box was so big and heavy with hanji forms I couldn't carry it so she delivered it that night to the Dormy for me.  Rocketman was not pleased to see all the forms and especially when it took up half of two suitcases.

                                                     She also gave me this beautiful vest.

                                         My hanji friend gave me this box that she made.

           I was so shocked when my hanji teacher gave this to me. It was so wonderful of her.

                         All my hanji forms made it home but the luggage was pretty heavy.

She rolled all the hanji paper into a tube and covered it with newspaper and lots of tape. It fit into my suitcase perfectly and made it home safe and sound.

                                     Here some photos of that wonderful hanji paper.

                                                        I think these were my favorites.

 I haven't done much hanji since we moved back but I've got the itch and plenty of forms and paper.

 A few more pictures from the hanji shop. I'm not sure why they ended up here and not with the rest.

One of the things I had brought my hanji teacher was about six small punches with designs like a heart, dragonfly, and butterfly. I wasn't sure how well they would be received. She could be old school where everything needs to be cut out by hand or she could think they are really cool. I should have known that it would be the second. She loved them.  So much so that little Hannah told me that she kept her and her brother up for hours punching out tons of hearts and dragonflies to give to me. I have the little bags somewhere but I can't find them right now. She really, really loved those punches.

A Visit to Dollhouse World - 2013

I was so glad that Rocketman was feeling a little better so he could go with me to a visit to Dollhouse World in Suwon. I had taken many classes there learning how to make miniature Korean food. I had my friend, Hannah, call to make sure it was okay for us to drop by for lunch. The sister of the Dollhouse World owner has a coffee shop next door where I had eaten many delicious bagel sandwiches. It was wonderful to see them again.

There was something new going on in the coffee shop. Kim Hyo-Jung, was learning how to press and grind her own African coffee beans. She had someone there who set up the huge press and teach her all there is to know.  It was really amazing to see how raw coffee beans are cooked.  She gave us this bottle of her coffee.

Since she knew we were coming, the owner of Dollhouse World made me this beautiful miniature flower basket. She said she stayed up late working on it for me. I am always amazed at what she creates with clay. She is very busy right now writing a book. I can't wait to see it when it's complete.

She also gave this miniature golf bag to Rocketman.  Can you believe the detail? Rocketman was so thrilled to get it. We had a great lunch and it was Rocketman's first time eating the bagel sandwiches and he too said it was the most delicious sandwich he had eaten in a long time. We will definitely be back.

Chilbo (Korean Enameling) Class #1 - 2013

Nan-Young and Metal Guy wanted to take me to lunchee before my first chilbo class the next day. Rocketman wasn't feeling too well so he stayed back at the Dormy to rest. Rocketman had rented "eggs" at the airport which provided both of us with portable WiFi at all times. I kept me "egg" in my purse and would keep my IPhone handy to see if Rocketman contacted me through Kakao Talk. It worked great.

We walked to a restaurant right across the street from Hwaseong Fortress. It boasts of food similar to what the kings of Korea ate. I had never eaten there before but I had ridden past it on the bus almost every day.

                                                                   And here's the food!

 It wasn't cheap, 15,000 WON ($15 USD) per person and they wouldn't let me pay. It upsets me because I know that was a ton of money to them.  But I always bring great gifts from the U.S. for them. This year I brought Nan-Young a Coach purse from the outlet mall and for Metal Guy a North Face windbreaker. North Face is crazy popular in Korea and the prices are out of this world like three times what there are in the U.S. He was so shocked but thrilled. He wore it everytime I saw him.

 Then it was back for class and I made some earrings using a new metal she had gotten. I'm not sure what kind of metal it is because you need to be careful what you use with chilbo since it goes into a very hot kiln.

I also made this necklace. Then it was back to the Dormy to see how Rocketman was doing and to catch some dinner.