Friday, November 23, 2007

What I Bought Yesterday



What is this? Lipstick? No, I should wear lipstick but I don't. Pencil sharpener? Nope. Give up?
It's a dojong, a Korean name stamp. Curt calls them chops but I think he got name from his travels in Asia.



This is a picture of my friend, Ji Young as we watch the guy design the dojong. First, he types my name in Hangul (Korean written language) into a computer and the program gives me several fonts for me to choose from.


A picture of the different fonts for my donjong. I chose the one in the second row, third in from the left. I thought it was the coolest looking.


This is the machine that laser cut out my name. It took about a minute. The dojong was plastic but you can get them out of wood and even jade.


Here it is done.


This is my name in Hangul. I found it funny that they only use red ink when they stamp their names and since writing your name in red is taboo, I wondered at the contradiction. I asked Ji Young about it and she hadn't thought about it until I mentioned it and she too thought it was strange.
The dojong is how Koreans sign important papers such as bank documents. I did notice when I went to the bank that the counter had red ink pads and now I know why. I also know why the size for a signature even when you use your VISA is so tiny, use your dojong.
Cost for my dojong: 23,000 WON (approximately $23.00 U.S.) but truly priceless for the memories it created. What a great way to spend my Thanksgiving Day! Dinner was Japanese and it made me miss my turkey dinner at least for a little while.

3 comments:

Helena said...

Very cool! I've got a little one made of wood.

I was going to say, the names on the computer screen say "Me-bo-tun" instead of "me-bo-dun," but it looks like he got it fixed on the stamp.

Yeah, I've wondered about the red thing too. Funny.

Becky said...

Hi Helena: I think Hangul looks like art. I'm having trouble even finding it on anything. Koreans want English

CreekHiker / HollysFolly said...

Becky!! I've always wanted a chop!!! Could you??? Would you?? (There's dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in it for your trouble!!!) Paleeeeeze???

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