Wonju Paper Festival!!!

This is a big post for me:


A Few weeks ago my coworker and I decided to stop by the Wonju Paper Festival. I wanted to see what was so special about paper that it deserved a festival. Well, I was sure "educated". I had so much fun at the festival. I spent about 6 hours at the festival. I made a few things and have brought some ideas home with me that I'm going to hold a class in paper lamp making in a few weeks.

These lamps were all hand painted. They are made of paper and so probably are not able to stand up to the horrible rainy Korean weather. Nonetheless, they're absolutely beautiful. At night time (which I was unable to witness) I assume they have tealights in them... I'm sure the soft yellow glow coming from them would be really gorgeous.
Me. Posing in front of the red paper roses...remind me of Alice in Wonderland sort of.
Yes, that's a real snake....it was fun. The poor snake was being handed from child to child. Must have had a super gentle temperament. I'm sure I would've bitten or strangled atleast one child by the end of the weekend.


As I said, I came home with a few souvenirs...Anna and I made these really awesome paper lamps. I have the pics of each of the steps that were taken. They provided frames and whatnot that made it a lot easier to make than the ones that we are going to be making in the class I'm teaching!
Here is Anna...showing off the goods.

Step 1:

If I had access to some woodworking equipment (cough mom's house in canada-end cough), then I could make this little wooden thingy. It made it a lot easier to poke the holes through...rather than the way I have to do them at home now. Anyway it's a new fun activity. I think I'm going to send some home for mom to try to sell in the craft faire. I'll send them soon enough momsy :)
Step one involves poking the already existing holes...hahaha. Anyway. A little thingy already poked holes, but some of them were not completed so I used a little machine to poke the holes clear.

Step 2:
Glue the pretty Hanji (Korean paper) to the white frame. Just use stick glue...crazy I know...but it works.


Step 3: Poke holes again through the holes (can be seen through the paper).
Anna showing off her rectangles....looking good!

Step 4:

Thread string through the holes. It should come out looking like shoe laces.

Anna wouldn't let me be behind the camera and stole a few shots of me.
Step 4:

Tie the bottoms of the strings in knots so that the strings remain tight.
Step 5:
Smile and have a sense of accomplishment!

The next activity that I did was paper making. This was messy...but I heart messy.


Take the screen and dip it into the paper/water/glue or starchy mixture.
Decorate it all pretty like with flowers or leaves or the like.

Then use your hand to pour a little more watery stuff on the top...

Squish it down. Lift the frame off.

Next, carry it over to the old ladies (ajumas) and have them place it on the hot steamy irony thingy. They brush it what not.
Let the old lady peel off the screen and have the iron thingy dry the paper. When the paper is dry, get the old lady to peel it off.
Granted...this was probably meant for little kids. But has that really stopped me before? Noppers, and it didn't stop me this time. For those who want to try this at home, make sure you get one of those little old ladies and that big iron thingy...otherwise your not doing it properly.