A Love Affair- Not Quite Yet

Detail of Joomchi lace

I love learning about other cultures and like my travels, ignorance often provides incredible discoveries. I think if I had really read through the directions with the mind of determining just how much time I would spend passing a wet ball of paper between my hands and squeezing, I might just have run the other way. Creating joomchi is labor intensive. I do not like my first piece (third photo). I did learn a lot. With my second attempt, I made joomchi lace (two layers of mulberry paper-yellow for the base and purple on top). Now this I like, but when I tell you that it took more than five hours to create, do you think I am crazy? This could also be the reason that this traditional way of making paper is a dying art in Korea. Who has the time?  I wish I could hand it to you so you could hold the piece up to the light and see all the tiny holes. It's quite beautiful.

Hanji, Korean mulberry paper, is amazingly strong and the joomchi process makes it even stronger. "It's like life," says joomchi artist Jiyong Chung, "Through hardships we become stronger, as the paper does. In the process of breaking down and forming new bonds, the paper becomes stronger."  I definitely think that my hands and forearms are going it get stronger. Tomorrow may prove to be a difficult pottery day. I hope not. I can't say that I have a love affair with joomchi, but I'm not done yet. I want to try drawing on the paper, dyeing the paper, and stitching on the paper using the joomchi process.

So I'm connecting once again with Nina-Marie and her Off the Wall Fridays. She considers me a mixed media artist and I don't think I can disagree. There are just too many wonderful things to play with and explore. When you see a butterfly at rest, perched on a flower, spreading its wings, it is said to be "basking," pausing to gather energy for future movement. For me, trying something new that has nothing to do with my chosen media, quilting, helps me restore my energy. It makes me itchy to get back to it. How do you bask in your life?

Do you Joomchi?

I first became aware of Joomchi, a traditional Korean paper technique, and Jiyoung Chung's work using the process in 2008. I loved the organic nature of her work. I was a papermaker in one of my past lives.  I tried finding out more about this traditional Korean paper technique but there simply wasn't much out there and certainly no directions on how to make it. I could not afford to travel for one of Jiyoung's workshops so when she shared that she was going to write a book,  I waiting patiently for its release.  I've actually owned Joomchi and Beyond for months. Today I decided to give it a try. Here is my beginning. I can tell you that joomchi takes patience. Jiyoung shares in book, "Stage 1 is the most difficult to agitate as teh papers reist breaking down and bonding, but it gets easier and easier, just like dealing with hardships in life." Guess that is my lesson for the day.

I decided to try "painterly joomchi" and to add to the challenge, I am using handmade Japanese paper, mulberry tissue paper purchased at World Market, unknown fiber content paper and regular tissue paper. I want to see what works and what doesn't. I have no illusions that this will turn out as a masterpiece instead I am embracing the learning process and being excited about trying something new.

I also want to thank my daughter-in-law's father, Mr. Lee, for the incredible gift of Korean mulberry paper (base of my piece) handmade by a master Korean papermaker. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would have this wonderful connection to Korea. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have the dried piece to share with you. So on this Valentine's Day, what did you heart desire to do?