How to make a Hanji lamp .....

I had a query this week from someone who doesn't live in Korea anymore but he's wanting to know how to make this lamp. So in case anyone else was wondering, it's quite a simple process which I will share with you.

Get a piece of perspex, or a very sturdy plastic sheet around 2 - 3mm thick and cut into 4 equal sizes, depending on the size of the lamp you want to make.
Glue the sides together with an instant glue to make a perfect square and being careful not to get the glue outside of the joins or on your fingers.
Paper the perspex using one whole piece to minimize the joins in the paper.
Leave to dry.
Cut a base out of 3mm thick cardboard so the sides fit into it and it has a small plinth. (Don't forget to put the hole in the base for the electrical fittings).
Cut small strips of cardboard for around the outside. One with a hole in it for the electric cord to come out of.
Cover the strips of cardboard with different coloured papers.
Glue the strips onto the base as shown ensuring all the cardboard is covered.
Cut a top out of either cardboard or perspex with a large enough hole, or square in the top to be able to get your hand in and change the light bulb.
Glue it to the top of the lamp.
Paper the top.
Finish off with strips of paper around the join at the top.
Varnish.

Comments

Lotus symbol in Korean culture .....

In traditional Korean Hanji art you can see many different designs of plants, animals, letters and insects. I'm sure you've wondered what they all symbolise as they are repeated so often and in many different ways. In this post I just want to take a brief look at the lotus plant and what it symbolises for the Korean people. I've used this design on a few articles but I never really knew the full meaning of what it represented until I started doing some research for my book. Even though many of us aren't Korean we can still use these designs and in so doing, translate a deeper meaning to our articles. Here are a just a few of my favourites from the easiest to the more difficult to cut out. The lotus flower symbolises creation, birth, liveability and reproduction and therefore it's one of the most important symbols in both Korean culture and its traditional religions. In both Confucianism and Buddhism

The Buddhist symbol, Hanji & Korean culture ....

When selecting designs for my Hanji pieces I tend to make stylistic choices as to what will look best on each piece but the Korean designs all have very deep symbolic meanings. None more than the Buddhist swastika (manja) design. ‘Manja’ (만, Man is “卍” and 만자, Manja literally means “letter Man”) is also called Srivatsalksana in Sanskrit. It is one of the thirty-two (32) marks of excellence of the Buddha and is said to exist on his hands, feet, hair and waist. For those of us in the West this is often confused with the German Nazi swastika symbol but in fact it's been around for about three thousand years. The swastika is an equilateral cross with arms bent at right angles and all in the same direction, usually to the right, or clockwise. It's a symbol of prosperity and good fortune and it originally represented the revolving sun, fire, or life. The word swastika is derived from the Sanskrit swastika which means, "conducive to well

Online Hanji paper store, in English .....

I'm really pleased to be able to share with you this website where you can order a variety of Hanji papers from Korea and it's all in English !!! The store is based in Daejon, Korea. HAMINBRIDGE ( Thehanji ) was established by Moonyang Park in 1983. It's a family owned 2nd generation business and they have a factory in Junju. They also have a factory in China where some of the paper is made. The website is at www. thehanji.com and it provides a selection of specialty Hanji paper (Korean paper) and products. I ordered some papers from them recently to see what it was like and they were extremely efficient in dealing with the order and it was here in the UAE within 5 days so I was really impressed. The prices were good and they even have some on special, the paper is beautiful and the ease of ordering was amazing. They do sell rolls of paper, traditional papers and lanterns but overall I did think the range was a bit limited for what I wa

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