Friday, March 6, 2009

Chilbo (Korean Enameling) Chest Update


Last week in chilbo class I had to paint all the large flowers that will be on the chest. It was a lot fun of taking my drawing and then copying it onto the copper panels. It was also the last week with my Swedish friend and she is now back in Sweden. We had a great time during class and now it's so quiet without her to talk to.



This week's class I began filling in the background. It took a long time to get the enamel the right thickness over each panel. I only got through half of the panels during class. My shoulders got really sore and my teacher understood what I was feeling.

When I first walked into the shop for my class, my teacher showed me a chest she had just completed. I fell in LOVE! I had wanted to buy a larger work done by my teacher as a keepsake and I knew this was it. It was hard to get her to understand that I wanted to buy it if it was for sale. So finally I asked her how much it was in Korean. She pointed to my chest which I was working on and had a puzzled look like "why do you want two?" I told her I wanted one that she made so she typed in an amount in her calculator and I bought it!! It still needs to have the panels glued down so I won't have it until next week.

It's unusual for the shop to have customers when I have class but it is a retail store also. While I was working on my chilbo, a Korean man came in and he was my teacher's silver supplier. He was surprised to see me and to see me working. He was talking to my teacher when two women came in shopping.

One of the women saw the chest and wanted it. First my teacher said she didn't have any and then the women wanted a price which my teacher wouldn't say since the chest was already sold. I could tell that she didn't like that it was unavailable.

My teacher must have told everyone that my shoulders were sore because suddenly the Korean man came up behind me and started massaging my shoulders. I was a little surprised and said "kamsamnida." (Thank you in Korean). He stopped after a few minutes and then each woman came over and massaged my shoulders. It was strange to me but I'm getting used to all kinds of things here in Korea. They were just trying to be nice.

It soon became time for me to go and I left with the woman who wanted my chest still discussing it with my teacher. I hope it's there when I return next Wednesday!

3 comments:

Helena said...

Can't wait to see the finished product!

Becky said...

Helena: I think about how talented you are and what you could create in chilbo!

Megan Doerr said...

Just out of curiosity how much did the chest cost. I would love to have one. Again I am so jealous and impressed with both your talent and your willingness to explore new things. Good luck with your chest, I know it will be beautiful.

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