Christmas Present

This is a hamper basket I made for my family to give Christmas gifts in. I love the colour combination of this hamper - dark chocolaty brown inside with olive green with silver patterns out.

The design itself didn't take too long because I already had in mind what shape I wanted. Although cutting of the 5mm thick card board wasn't easy, especially cutting the holes out for the handles was really tricky. 

But I'm happy with the result. 

'papertree' logo in Korean on the back!

Some old newspaper cuttings to use as a filler. 

Viola! I think I need to buy a few more things to go in. To wrap it up, I'm going to make Bojagi, Korean fabric wrapping sheet so it can be used again and again. 

Artist Open House

Tomorrow is the last day of Brighton & Hove Artist Open House for Christmas. This was my third time to exhibit as a part of Villa LVI and I have throughly enjoyed it. 

This book tree by Rebeca Martin was a very popular feature at the Open House. Lots of people took photos. The book at the top of the tree is apparently exactly 100 years old, printed in 1913.

 Recycled mirror on Hanji frame with hand made tiles.

 Hand paper cut ducks for ever lasting love.

More hand paper cut traditional Korean pattern to bring happiness and love to you. 

My new Hanji cards. With hand made fans on the left and reused child's puzzle pieces on the right. 

Houses in a box. You can pick and choose any colour you like or as many as you like as long as they fit in the Hanji box.

Many thanks to all of you who have come to see my Hanji art at the Open House. I'm very grateful to have all your support in any form whether it be by purchasing, giving me new ideas through talking to me or enjoying a closer look at my art with interests and care. I've got one more day to go tomorrow at 56 Payne Avenue Hove. I'll enjoy my last day tomorrow whatever happens thanks to my other artists friends who are part of Villa LVI for their greatest friendship and support to each other. See you all tomorrow!

1970s Danish Coffee Table

This is my biggest project so far. I regenerated this table last April for the Brighton and Hove Artist May Open House.

I found this table unwanted by my neighbour covered with lots of blueish water-colour paint as if a child had had a go at decorating it. I gave it a good clean and lots of sanding down to get rid of that blue paint. I used fine sand-paper instead of the sanding machine which took, what seemed like, forever and there was plenty of dust from the old wood created by this sanding action (now I know what it's like working with wood). 

This is what the table looked like after first layer of white Hanji paper. Initially this lovely Hangul paper was my first choice for the top of this beautiful 1970s Danish coffee table. Once the paper was glued, however, the wood stain from the top of the table kept coming through this light Hangul paper. In the end I gave up and had to change the plan after about 4 layers of paper on top trying to cover the stain. 

But all is not lost. After several attempts of choosing paper I finally found this gorgeous black and gold Chrysanthemum Hanji paper. The bottom part of the table especially required lots of patience as each baton (or whatever those wooden bits are called) was painstakingly decoupaged with this blackness of gorgeous eastern flowers. When I finished the final baton, I was thrilled. Very opulent! Now I go around looking for the next project - in fact I have found a couple of chairs that look like 60s design. I'm so looking forward to changing these up soon.