Monday, July 14, 2014
Monday, July 7, 2014
A Crafter's Paradise in Seoul
Seoul is a paradise for shoppers : the mega city is packed with shops, outdoor markets, street vendors and mega shopping complexes. You can spend days, possibly weeks, browsing through the mazes of shops and store all over the city.
One of the most exciting places to visit is Dongdaemun Market, the biggest shopping district in Seoul. It is a full neighborhood, filled with countless shops, selling about everything you can dream of!
Today I want to take you to the Crafter's Paradise: the Dongdaemun Shopping Complex!
Six floors of Sewing and Crafting Supplies
The Shopping complex is a gigantic 7-floor building with thousands of vendors offer a head-spinning selection of crafting and sewing supplies.
.jpeg)
Here is the detail of each floor in the Complex :
7F : Management / Offices
6F : Telecommunication Room / Headquarters / Offices
5F : Materials / Accessories / Beads / Buttons / Lace
4F : Various Fabrics / Cotton Fabrics
3F : Various Fabrics / Cotton Fabrics
2F : Various Fabrics / Silks / Hanbok / Curtains
1F : Bedding / Handicrafts / Plates / Curtains / Living Essentials
B1 : Various Threads / Blankets / Handicrafts / Curtains
The basement and the first floor are dedicated to sewing supplies: millions of buttons, kilometers of thread, ribbons and trim, tons of buckles, zippers, patches, embroideries, etc. Trust me, it will make your head spin!
The second, third and fourth floors are entirely dedicated to fabric. You can literally get lost in the sea of vibrant colors and textures, and the shopping complex is so unbelievably large and packed to the ceiling with goods.
The second floor is specializing in silk and luxurious fabrics chosen to make the Hanbok, gorgeous and colorful traditional Korean outfit worn for wedding ceremonies and other important events.
Take me to the 5th Floor, please!
For me, the party begins when I reach the fifth floor, dedicated to Jewelry and Accessory supplies!
There are hundreds of booths and the selection is mind-blowing : lace, ribbons, beads, charms, rubber bands, hair barrettes, pins and bands, feathers, leather, hardware, felt, polymer rings and bracelets, jump rings, fasteners, silver and gold chains, quilting supplies, etc.
Visiting this market can be very overwhelming. As most places in Asia, it's crowded, buzzing and loud and, most importantly, packed with stuff! Most of the shops have boxes and bags of goods literally piled up to the ceiling.
Welcome to the Bead Buffet
Many shops on the 5th floor sell beads and charms for jewelry making. Their tables basically look like bead buffets! You can pick and choose from their selection, using tiny bowls or baskets.
Most of the things can be bought individually (prices vary from a few cents to a few dollars per item), but you can also negotiate a better price for a larger quantity. Asian shop owners are used to bargaining, so do not be afraid to ask for discounts.
I would also recommend you pay cash for your purchases, as shop owners are more willing to give you interesting prices when you pay cash, rather than with a credit or debit card.
An overwhelming experience!
Visiting this market (like most large shopping centers in Asia main cities) can be an overwhelming experience. The place is large and there are people everywhere; the concept of "personal space" is more or less inexistent in Korea, so you can expect to be pushed and pulled, and have people standing "in your bubble" all the time!
To make things easier and more pleasant, make sure to go there without any shopping bags or large backpacks, as navigating the narrow alleys can be challenging. Also, I would recommend you visit the market when you have enough time to browse through the numerous booths and compare the different products available. The prices do not vary that much from a booth to another, but the selection does.
Find your way
The booths are numbered with a system similar to street addresses, so make sure to pick up the business cards of the shops you especially like, as you might have a hard time finding them again.
Finally, remember that you can request your goods to be shipped directly to you by the merchant (ask for taekbae, 택배). This is very convenient, especially if you are purchasing heavy or large items.
The cost of delivery on the Korean peninsula is between 3,000 or 4,000won ($3~$4), and it usually gets to you within 2 days.
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
What did you buy?
Maybe are you wondering : what did Naty buy at the Shopping complex?... Well, this time I was looking for some hair accessory supplies, and I have found beautiful stainless steel Alligator clips, along with sturdy metal headband.
I also purchased nice stainless steel key chains and key rings (did you know that Korea is famous for its high-quality stainless steel products?), glue and other trinkets.
I have also found these very nice wooden discs with a slight convexity that will be perfect for new HanjiNaty earrings!
For more information (in English) :
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SH/SH_EN_7_2.jsp?cid=273734
Six floors of Sewing and Crafting Supplies
The Shopping complex is a gigantic 7-floor building with thousands of vendors offer a head-spinning selection of crafting and sewing supplies.
Here is the detail of each floor in the Complex :7F : Management / Offices
6F : Telecommunication Room / Headquarters / Offices
5F : Materials / Accessories / Beads / Buttons / Lace
4F : Various Fabrics / Cotton Fabrics
3F : Various Fabrics / Cotton Fabrics
2F : Various Fabrics / Silks / Hanbok / Curtains
1F : Bedding / Handicrafts / Plates / Curtains / Living Essentials
B1 : Various Threads / Blankets / Handicrafts / Curtains
The basement and the first floor are dedicated to sewing supplies: millions of buttons, kilometers of thread, ribbons and trim, tons of buckles, zippers, patches, embroideries, etc. Trust me, it will make your head spin!
The second, third and fourth floors are entirely dedicated to fabric. You can literally get lost in the sea of vibrant colors and textures, and the shopping complex is so unbelievably large and packed to the ceiling with goods.
The second floor is specializing in silk and luxurious fabrics chosen to make the Hanbok, gorgeous and colorful traditional Korean outfit worn for wedding ceremonies and other important events.
Take me to the 5th Floor, please!
For me, the party begins when I reach the fifth floor, dedicated to Jewelry and Accessory supplies!
There are hundreds of booths and the selection is mind-blowing : lace, ribbons, beads, charms, rubber bands, hair barrettes, pins and bands, feathers, leather, hardware, felt, polymer rings and bracelets, jump rings, fasteners, silver and gold chains, quilting supplies, etc.
Visiting this market can be very overwhelming. As most places in Asia, it's crowded, buzzing and loud and, most importantly, packed with stuff! Most of the shops have boxes and bags of goods literally piled up to the ceiling.
Welcome to the Bead Buffet
Many shops on the 5th floor sell beads and charms for jewelry making. Their tables basically look like bead buffets! You can pick and choose from their selection, using tiny bowls or baskets.
Most of the things can be bought individually (prices vary from a few cents to a few dollars per item), but you can also negotiate a better price for a larger quantity. Asian shop owners are used to bargaining, so do not be afraid to ask for discounts.
I would also recommend you pay cash for your purchases, as shop owners are more willing to give you interesting prices when you pay cash, rather than with a credit or debit card.
An overwhelming experience!Visiting this market (like most large shopping centers in Asia main cities) can be an overwhelming experience. The place is large and there are people everywhere; the concept of "personal space" is more or less inexistent in Korea, so you can expect to be pushed and pulled, and have people standing "in your bubble" all the time!
To make things easier and more pleasant, make sure to go there without any shopping bags or large backpacks, as navigating the narrow alleys can be challenging. Also, I would recommend you visit the market when you have enough time to browse through the numerous booths and compare the different products available. The prices do not vary that much from a booth to another, but the selection does.
Find your wayThe booths are numbered with a system similar to street addresses, so make sure to pick up the business cards of the shops you especially like, as you might have a hard time finding them again.
Finally, remember that you can request your goods to be shipped directly to you by the merchant (ask for taekbae, 택배). This is very convenient, especially if you are purchasing heavy or large items.
The cost of delivery on the Korean peninsula is between 3,000 or 4,000won ($3~$4), and it usually gets to you within 2 days.
What did you buy?Maybe are you wondering : what did Naty buy at the Shopping complex?... Well, this time I was looking for some hair accessory supplies, and I have found beautiful stainless steel Alligator clips, along with sturdy metal headband.
I also purchased nice stainless steel key chains and key rings (did you know that Korea is famous for its high-quality stainless steel products?), glue and other trinkets.
I have also found these very nice wooden discs with a slight convexity that will be perfect for new HanjiNaty earrings!
How to get there?
The easiest way to get there is to take the Seoul subway, to Dongdaemun Station.
Take Exit no.8 and walk along the waterside. The Dongdaemun Shopping Complex is next to the JW Marriot Hotel.
For more information (in English) :
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SH/SH_EN_7_2.jsp?cid=273734
Saturday, June 7, 2014
Thinking Outside The Box
 |
| Hanji kits are widely available in Korea. |
As choosing the colors and the patterns has always been my favorite part of the Hanji creative process, I quickly moved away from "kits", that come with the frame and the Hanji paper. They're easy to find and they can be quite tempting: the paper is already measured, the patterns already cut, the colors already chosen. All you have to do it to clue the paper onto the form and voilà! You are done.
 |
| My very first Hanji creation! |
For me, Hanji crafts have always been more than that. From my very first lesson with my Hanji teacher, I insisted on cutting all the designs myself.
She was quite surprised, but she didn't try to discourage me: she pulled out this gigantic folder, overflowing with designs of all sorts and sizes, and she let me choose. I chose traditional Korean ducks (a symbol of marital love and companionship) for my tissue case.
It took forever, but I did it. The cutting wasn't perfect, the lines weren't as sharp as I wanted them to be, but it was all MINE. My work. My effort. My creation. And it's always meant the world to me. And after making one I knew that I wouldn't stop anytime soon!
Thinking Outside the Box
After using only forms for a while, I decided to purchase some large sheets of sturdy single-core cardboard and cut it myself, in order to create my own objects. Blisters and cursing were to be expected!
After much effort (and way-too-many measuring attempts), I was able to construct a small desk organizer with two long drawers to hold pencils and a larger open part to hold post-it notes, small notebooks and other ephemera. It took me a while to make it, and it's far from straight (my two grandfathers being carpenters, I should have been good at this! but well... we are who we are, I guess) but it's all mine. And I love it! It's been following me from desks to desks in my different schools, and every time I look at it it reminds me of what Hanji means to me.
From then on I started to cut my own cardboard to create square magnets. I couldn't find squares of the desired size already cut so I had to make them myself! Same thing with the hair barrettes that are now one of the most popular items in my Etsy shop; I cut the thick cardboard myself to suit my needs, and it allows me a flexibility and countess possibilities that I would never give up again.
Beloved Leftovers
I didn't have any use for the tiny strips of paper, but I didn't have the heart to throw away such precious material. Therefore, I kept stuffing the craps in a cardboard box with the vague idea of "doing something with it later", which should probably be our motto, us crafters and craftoholics...! No kidding, how many have you said yourself this beloved sentence?
Believe it or not, the time came to finally "do something" with all these little scraps and strips of paper. One day, I was trying to decide what to do with small rectangles of sturdy cardboard when the idea struck me : how about Hanji jewelry? I started playing around with scraps and made my very first pair of earrings that day!
I have been making dozens of pairs of earrings ever since, and I am slowing extending my collection to include key chains, phone pendants, and possibly other small items!
I still have mountains of scraps in my workshop (I seem to be producing scraps faster than I can use them!) but now at least I know that they will be put to good use in the near future!
Do you have any other ideas to use all these scraps of cardboard and strips of Hanji paper? Leave a comment on the Blog!
To read more about my Hanji adventures and projects :
My love story with Hanji :
Off the Walls :
My meaningful Hanji trip to Seoul :
Monday, May 19, 2014
Your Online Tool box!
Here is a non-exhausting (and non-pretentious) "Online Tool Box" that I have put together for all the Etsy shop owners out there! I will make sure to update it as soon as I hear of new tools, apps and websites that can help us all make our shops more successful !
Making and Promoting Treasuries
One of the great tools on the Etsy website are the treasuries. A treasury is a 16-item collection curated by Etsy members. It is a great way to showcase your work!
Here are some interesting tools that will help you make your treasuries faster and more efficiently, as well as promoting them on different platforms.
✔ Brittany's Best Treasury Box
The Treasury Box is an extension that can be installed on Google Chrome only. It is very useful to make treasuries, send group convos (to the shop owners featured in your treasury) and to save an image of any treasury on Etsy. It's free.brittanysbest.com/treasurybox-chrome-extension/
✔ Shmetsy
Shmetsy offers three convenient tools : Shmetsy Sketchy (that allows you to save your treasuries as drafts), Treasury Maker (that allows you to create treasuries more quickly and efficiently) and Convos Sender (you can send convos to the shop owners featured in your treasury in one click). It's free.
shmetsy.com/tools.html
✔ Enhantsyshmetsy.com/tools.html
Enhantsy is a convenient extension that can be installed on your Internet browser and that offer different features to make treasuries and send convos much more easily. It used to be free, but now you have to pay about $3 a month to use it, after the 7-day free trial period.
enhantsy.com/
✔ Treasury Pin
Treasury Pin is a great tool that allows you to pin your treasuries onto Pinterest, with a customizing tool to pin collages of all the items in the treasury, rather than the first item only.
treasurypin.com/
Monitoring Traffic
Another important aspect of our Etsy business is the monitoring of traffic. How many views and favorites do my items get? Where are the visitors from? How are my items positioned compared to the other shops' products?
✔ Heart-O-MaticAnother important aspect of our Etsy business is the monitoring of traffic. How many views and favorites do my items get? Where are the visitors from? How are my items positioned compared to the other shops' products?
This tool gives you the detail of the hearts (favorites) your shop and your different items got. You can also access a complete list of the people who favorited your shop.craftcult.com/heartomatic.php
✔ Are my Listings relevant?
You can check the relevancy of your tags and titles with this online tool.
tools4etsy.com/Wall-e/Relevancy/Keyword
tools4etsy.com/Wall-e/Relevancy/Keyword
✔ Are my Listings trending?
Are you items trending? You can find out with one click, using this tool.
tools4etsy.com/Wall-e/Trending
tools4etsy.com/Wall-e/Trending
✔ Craft Count
You can take a look at lists of the top sellers on Etsy, and see how your shop is positioned compared to the best sellers out there.
craftcount.com
You can take a look at lists of the top sellers on Etsy, and see how your shop is positioned compared to the best sellers out there.
craftcount.com
Improving SEO and Tags
✔ Tag Wars
This very useful tool gives you a chance to compare different tags and see which one has the highest relevancy, popularity and probability rates. This is a great way to choose the best tags to be found in searches.
tools4etsy.com/TagWars
This very useful tool gives you a chance to compare different tags and see which one has the highest relevancy, popularity and probability rates. This is a great way to choose the best tags to be found in searches.
tools4etsy.com/TagWars
Boosting up your Blog or Website There are some great tools out there to boost up your blog or website.
✔ Shop Widget
This tool will give you a chance to add a dynamic shop widget (with integrated slide show) onto your blog or website. Easy to use, and free!(You can see an example of the widget at the bottom of this page)
craftcult.com/shop_widget.php
✔ Etsy Mini
The Etsy mini is a direct gateway to your shop! You can generate your code and paste it in any webpage or blog HTML. Any change you make in your Etsy shop will be automatically updated in your Etsy mini. You can customize your Etsy mini to suit your needs.
etsy.com/your/mini
Managing your Business
✔ Etsy Seller's Worksheet
You can download this convenient seller's worksheet that will help you keep track of your items and optimize your business.
mdmproofing.com/iym/products/etsy/sellers-worksheet/
You can download this convenient seller's worksheet that will help you keep track of your items and optimize your business.
mdmproofing.com/iym/products/etsy/sellers-worksheet/
Offering discounts and coupons
✔ Etsy on Sale
This website is dedicated uniquely to discounted and on-sale Etsy items. You can use it to promote your items that are on sale, but you will have to purchase credits in order to post on this website.
Wanelo (that stands for Want - Love - Need) is a great site for Etsy shop owners to promote their items. Check it out, and claim your shop today! Someone might have already posted one of your items on Wanelo.
✔ Pinterest (pinterest.com)
It's next to impossible to avoid Pinterest when promoting your Etsy shop! Joining group boards is always an excellent idea to get your items out there.
✔ Facebook (facebook.com)
✔ Tumblr (tumblr.com)
✔ Twitter (twitter.com)
More apps and tools
✔ More Etsy apps :
You can browse here to find more Etsy apps. You can arrange the different apps by popularity, newness or alphabetical order to find what you need :
www.etsy.com/apps
Interesting reads
http://socialmediatoday.com/salman-aslam/2059286/8-ways-keep-your-social-media-updates-fresh
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Watch out! The Hanji Web is expanding...!
In the last few months I had the pleasure to make meaningful contacts with other Hanji lovers and craftspeople from different parts of the globe!It's a thrill and an honor for me when people take the time to send me a message, asking questions or simply encouraging me to pursuit my work.
It seems that the global "Hanji spider web" is expanding! ... and that's awesome news, needless to say!
✔ In the last few months I have received emails from two different people (one lady from Germany, and one young expat who now lives in Seoul, Korea) asking specific questions about Hanji craft and techniques. I really hope that my advice was useful to them, and that they will let me know how their projects are going! ☺
✔ At the end of March, I had the great pleasure to meet a group of Hanji craftspeople up in Seoul, when Hanji artist Jan Coveney was in town and gave a very interesting talk titled "Hanji after Korea";
✔ A Facebook group was recently created by some Hanji lovers in the U.A.E. to give a forum to all the Hanji paper craftspeople out there! (If you wish to join, contact me!)
✔ I received this morning a lovely e-mail from an American young lady who is going to teach a Hanji art program for teens in a public library in the Los Angeles area and who wishes to use some pictures of my work in her promotional flyer. What a thrill!
Watch out ! The gorgeous Hanji paper Web is getting bigger and wider.... you might get caught sooner than you think! ☺
Saturday, April 26, 2014
The 2014 Jeonju Hanji Culture Festival is Cancelled
I was on my way back home from school when I received a text message from the Hanji Festival. As I don't read Korean perfectly, I used a translating app on my phone to translate the message into English :
"Festival has been canceled due to unavoidable tragedy of Sewol*".
To say that the news upset me is a gross understatement.
I have been working, planning, dreaming, thinking and talking about this Festival for the last two months. Every spare moment was dedicated to that event; so to have to rug pulled from under my feet this way was very hard to take.
A few days after the initial message I contacted the Festival staff again to see if there's any chance the Festival would be postponed, rather than cancelled. The answer is no.
There will be no Hanji Festival in Jeonju in 2014.
* The SeWol is a South Korean ferry that sank in the Yellow Sea on 16 April 2014. Hundreds of Korean people, mainly High school students on a school trip, lost their lives in the tragedy.
"Festival has been canceled due to unavoidable tragedy of Sewol*".
To say that the news upset me is a gross understatement.
A few days after the initial message I contacted the Festival staff again to see if there's any chance the Festival would be postponed, rather than cancelled. The answer is no.
There will be no Hanji Festival in Jeonju in 2014.
* The SeWol is a South Korean ferry that sank in the Yellow Sea on 16 April 2014. Hundreds of Korean people, mainly High school students on a school trip, lost their lives in the tragedy.
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
HanjiNaty at the Jeonju Hanji Culture Festival 2014!
What a thrill to announce that Hanji Naty will be participating in the 18th Edition of the Jeonju Hanji Culture Festival !
The Festival will be held for four days, from May 3 to May 6, 2014, in the area surrounding the Hanji Industry Support Center in the city of Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do province.
In the past editions, the Hanji Festival was held from Thursday to Sunday; this year, the Festival has decided to make the event coincide with a nice 4-day weekend, made possible by the alignment of the stars and the national Holidays! Children's Day being on May 5 (Monday) and Buddha's birthday on May 6 (Tuesday), Korean citizens will enjoy a long weekend at the beginning of May, when the weather is usually the finest on the peninsula.
I have been an enthusiastic visitor of the Hanji Festival for many years. I would never miss it for the world! (You can read here my blog post on the 2013 Edition of the Festival). This year I have decided to take a leap of faith and take part in the Festival as a Hanji Seller! It is a gigantic challenge for me, but I am ready to do everything it takes to be successful !
In my booth I plan on selling a wide range of Hanji creations, including earrings, hair accessories, plates, boxes, chests, tissue cases, coasters, magnets, etc.I am very curious and excited to see what the Korean visitors will think of my work, as it is quite unusual and different from the traditional Hanji crafts you can see in Korea. Will they like the bold colors and the daring designs? Will they find my Hanji jewelry and accessories attractive, or simply weird?
A foreign gal in a very Korean Festival
I won't lie : I'm pretty nervous about the whole adventure. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that I will be most likely the only non-Korean person having a seller's booth at the Festival this year and, quite possibly, ever! I expect to draw a lot of attention, and let's hope it will be for my craft and my creations rather than for my Western face!
One thing that worries me is the fact that my Korean language skills are not good enough to fully explain my crafts to my potential customers and visitors. I am also very concerned about the fact that Korean visitors might feel shy, embarrassed or even scared to approach my booth because they don't feel confident enough with their own English skills! I am hoping to have some help from dear Korean friends who could spend a little time with me in my booth and help me communicate better with my visitors and possible customers!
I am also expecting to be photographed and filmed quite a bit! As a foreigner in South Korea (especially when you are out of metropolitan centers such as Seoul or Busan) I am already used to have my picture taken when I attend any kind of festival or event... But I know that this time it will most likely be a bigger deal, and I can expect to end up in the newspaper or in a news spot on Korean TV!... I will make sure to wear my brightest smile (and a decent outfit!) for the four days of the Festival!Getting ready for the big Weekend!
Ever since I received the confirmation that I will have my own booth at the Festival, I have been working quite hard to prepare this big 4-day event. I honestly don't know what to expect, and I want to be as well prepared as possible! In the next few weeks I will be sharing my process (and my progress!) with you! Don't worry : I'll make sure to keep you posted!
* * * * *
To learn more about the Festival :
★ Official Website (in Korean only) :
http://jhanji.or.kr/
★ Korea Tourism Association page on the Festival :
http://bit.ly/KaS1FB
★ Festival Facebook Event page :
https://www.facebook.com/events/191179781002235/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)