Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Chilbo (Korean Enameling)

 Chilbo class today had me working on two pendants that I had ordered through Nan.  This is how we decided to do the first one.
As soon as the frit is melted, you stir it with a metal poker to get the swirls.  I love this look and how the pendant turned out.
 The second pendant I bought was silver and very small.  It also had two sides.  This is the first side.
 This is the second.  We almost had a disaster.  The first side had been finished and I had placed the other side in the kiln to set when Nan remembered that you can't lay flat an enameled piece in the kiln that has enamel on the backside.  It will stick to the mesh.  She took it out just in time and no damage was done.
 Now, Nan knows I have a blog because I do take lots of pictures during class but she does not know how to read English so I'm pretty sure she did not read my blog entry from yesterday.  As I was working, she was running all over the place gathering the pieces you see above that she had made.  She gave them all to me.  She would not let me give them back.
 So since Rocketman is in Japan and I didn't have to cook dinner, I decided to eat at Young-Soo's next door for some mandu guk.  I told Nan that she should too, so we all three sat down to three different types of kimchi and mandu guk.  Nan had received a phone call from Metal Guy saying that he was in the area and would stop by and take me home. 

I left Young-Soo's with a full belly and this bojagi which was wrapped by Nan for me.
                                            Inside was this kimchi from Young-Soo and ...
                                  this ceramic mug that Nan had made and gave to me and....
these handpainted ceramic mugs.  I don't know what got into the girl and she would not take no for an answer.  She did let me pay for dinner so at least I got to do that.

You know how I talk (sometimes complain) about how I make plans and then things go totally different.  When I arrived at chilbo today, Young-Soo was there and she speaks quite a bit of English.  She asked what I was doing tomorrow so I told her that I was going to yoga in the morning and hanji in the afternoon.  She said, "No, no, maedeup exhibition in Insadong.  No yoga, no hanji."  So I told Nan to call my hanji teacher on her handphone.

But no, she took my arm and off we went, arm in arm, to hanji which is right around the corner from Nan's shop.  She explained to my teacher why I wouldn't be at class tomorrow and then off we went back to Nan's.  So tomorrow I have to be at Nan's by 9:30 am and Young Soo is going to drive her tiny, and I mean tiny, car to Insadong.  She made me feel a whole lot better by telling me she is a terrible driver.  She said it with a big smile and then told me "No worries."  I'm plenty worried but I plan on keeping my eyes closed as much as possible.  I am looking forward to the exhibition and it's really sweet that they are willing to take me.

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