Paper Bead Pendant

Paper bead pendant made of Korean Hanji paper. 

Each bead is painstakingly made by rolling a long strip of Hanji paper and glued and glazed a few times. And then the beads are hanging from waxed cotton cord with some silver plated findings. I love the colour combination on this.

Recycled cardboard earrings anyone?

Like recycling? In my 6 year daughter's words, 'I don't like it. I love it'. I find recycling and reusing paper quite satisfying. Some of my jewellery pieces are made of recycled cardboard or food packaging that is about to be thrown into the paper recycling box. And here's how.

Materials

Cutting board

Pencil 

Scissors or craft knife

Cardboard 

Hanji paper (or any mulberry paper of your choice but not too thick)

Glue (What I use is for Hanji craft but thinly watered down PVA glue might do the job) I'll talk about the glue in detail in a different post. 

Earring findings of your choice (a pair of eye pins and ear wires)

1. Draw some shapes such as circles, hearts or stars on a piece of cardboard. You need 4 of the same shapes for a pair of earrings. 
2. Cut them out. Glue 2 of them together with an eye pin in the middle firmly attached using hot glue gun or super glue. Do the same with the other 2. 
3. Wrap them with the paper of your choice (Korean Hanji paper in my case) getting rid of all the air bubbles between Hanjii paper and the cardboard. Let them dry completely (ideally overnight).
4. Once dry, varnish them to protect from water and to give the shiny look. Wood varnish, or any kind of craft varnish is fine. 
5. Put the ear wires on and show off your new creation. 

Voila! Mine looks like this. 

Photographs by Paul Munson

Cup of Tea

    Some days you want to talk a lot, and other days you just want to relax with a cup of tea!

The tray here is made by me.

Photographs by Paul Munson

Hanji Craft

I suppose many of you may not be familiar with Hanji craft let alone Hanji paper.
Hanji is Korean traditional paper made from the inner bark of the Mulberry tree and it is used for many things including paintings, scrolls, books as well as household items. Using this beautiful Korean Hanji paper, I make personal items such as jewellery, jewellery boxes, vanity boxes and pocket mirrors, trays, fruit bowls, and small drawers. I use Korean traditional Hanji craft method which involves pasting many layers of Hanji paper onto a pre-framed objects.  For example, to make a jewellery box, I use thick pressed paper board to form the box shape and then paste layers of paper onto it. Some of them are decorated with cut out patterns of various symbols wishing health and good luck. All items I make can be functional or decorative.