The Goodbyes Have Started

I had my last chilbo (Korean enameling) class on Wednesday. I also asked my teacher (through my Korean girlfriend) to put together a chilbo kit so that I can continue doing chilbo upon my return home. I brought Curt (hubby) with me to pick up the supplies last Saturday. I wasn't sure what to expect but it was a lot more than we were prepared to carry on the bus. Curt had never been to the shop and he was so impressed with her talent that I had a hard time getting him out of there. He did buy something though.


She was shocked at how tall Curt was so I took a picture of the two of them and will email it to her.

These are the finished panels for my chest. She had it glued and packed when we came so I'll have to wait until we are back in the U.S. to take a picture of the completed chest.

We decided to take a taxi back to the apartment since we were loaded down with supplies. First my husband tried to hail a taxi and when that didn't work, I tried also to no avail. After a half hour my chilbo teacher came out (she had been with a student) and was shocked to see us still there.

She told my husband to hide against the building and we tried to hail a taxi. Available taxis kept passing us by and my teacher told me "lunchee" meaning they must be on their way to lunch. It was kinda funny that every available taxi was going to lunch. Finally, she told me to go hide with Curt and as soon as I walked away she was able to get a taxi.

We ran to the taxi door and she gave the driver our address and we said our final goodbyes again. Of course, the first time in the shop I was crying all over the place and she kept wiping away my tears with her fingers.

What started the tears in the shop is that she gave me one of her paintings.

This is a closeup. I was so touched by her generosity and I will miss her tremendously. I learned so much from her. Tomorrow is my last day at yoga and I'm sure I'll be a watering pot again.

Progress on My Chilbo Chest

I finished painting all the background on the tiles. I'm getting better at blending all the time. The next time I will be adding a bunch of tiny flowers. This has been so much fun.


My teacher had some new pieces for sale and sometimes I just can't resist. She was so happy she gave me one free and put it around my neck.

My teacher is so good and making cat faces. She never usually does one in a pendant so when I saw this one, I bought it immediately. I will be using these pendants with my maedeup.

My New Chilbo Chest!

I picked up the chest this past week at chilbo (Korean enameling) class. It is about 14 1/2" tall by 11 inches wide. I love it so much!



I forced her into letting me take a picture of her with the chest. She was not smiling for the other picture so I took this when she really wasn't posing. It's my favorite.



She is getting an award in April and wants me to attend. She even offered to pick me up.

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!

Chibo (Korean Enameling) Chest

My chilbo teacher had my chest when I arrived at class this week. I will be making chilbo panels to cover the front of each drawer, 12 if you are counting. The bottom three open up as one drawer. Yesterday was spent prepping the panels. I first had to sprinkle powdered glass over the back of each panel. One firing. Then I had to apply the silver foil. Second firing. She then took out a sketch of the drawers and a possible design. I wanted flowers and she had sketched a sample. I had to draw my own sketch which I am horrible when it comes to drawing. I did my best and I think it will look great in chilbo. Next week I start making the flowers.

Chillin" at Chilbo (Korean Enameling) Class

Last week I learned how to bend the wire to make mountains and also how to straighten the wire to make star bursts.

This week I made these pendants. I also forgot to mention I have a new friend from Sweden who walked into the shop a few weeks ago and fell in love with chilbo. She is only here to the end of the month but I'm having so much fun taking classes with a fellow foreigner. Her English is excellent and we have a great time sharing our experiences here in Korea.

After seeing the beautiful chests in the chilbo exhibition, I knew I wanted to make one on a smaller scale. The chilbo teacher has a small 12 drawer chest in her front window so I managed to convey to her that I would like to make one. She drew it all out and it will be 6 weeks of classes, two panels a week. I'm so excited! I'm leaving it to her to decide what I should make but I did point to some of the flower pendants she had in the shop.

KEA Exhibit

My chilbo (Korean enameling) teacher had to reschedule class this week due to her participation in the Korean Enameling Association Exhibit being held in Insadong. I knew I wanted to go and my maedeup teacher, Su-Mi, was kind enough to take me. The piece in the picture above was done by my teacher.

I love this chest but I'm sure one would cost a fortune.

At one point, a Korean woman came up to us with two glasses of orange juice. I didn't really want one because I was taking pictures but I took it and drank it quickly. As soon as I got rid of the glass another woman came over with more orange juice. I politely said, "annio" (no in Korean) but she kept insisting and wouldn't take no for an answer. Su-Mi didn't really know what to do either.

A Korean man came over and said in perfect English that I had to accept it, so I did. A few minutes later everyone was gathered round for some speeches and then we drank a toast. I guess that's why I needed a glass in my hand. Then they uncovered a table, spread with a ton of food. I had eaten a large Korean lunch, then went for coffee and cake so I was definitely not hungry. I stood my ground though as countless Koreans tried to feed me. They really want the foreigner to eat at these things but I truly could not eat another bite.

We even found some maedeup (Korean knotting).

This was Cinderella.

This little guy just wouldn't get out of my shot. I forgot I was trying to take a picture of the earrings. He looked so cute.

My chilbo teacher was shocked to see me. It was so much fun to surprise her. This is a picture of (from left to right): me, my chilbo teacher, Su-Mi's teacher(she is teaching her how to dye fabrics using natural dyes) and Su-Mi (my maedeup teacher). Su-Mi was surprised to see her teacher there. She knew her teacher does chilbo but she didn't think she would be participating in this exhibition.

One of the fun (or not so fun) parts about being a foreigner is that you often are the center of attention. I was the only foreigner at this exhibition and there was a fair amount of surprise by the Koreans. I'm getting pretty used to being stared at and at least everyone had smiles for me. I also had my picture take with a lot of people I didn't know. Many were surprised to find out that I am a student of chilbo. I only hope to be able to someday match up to the talent that was present in this exhibition.

Chilbo (Korean Enameling) Update

More wiring bending in chilbo. My teacher also introduced me to doing chilbo on ceramics. I love how it looks! The only difference comes in when it's ready for the kiln. Instead of having the kiln preheated to 760 degrees Celsium, the ceramic piece is put into a cold kiln and ramped up to 760 degrees and then the kiln is turned off to allow the piece to cool slowly. Otherwise if you put it into a preheated kiln, the piece would shatter. Fun, fun, fun!

More Chilbo (Korean Enameling)

My second chilbo class involved learning how to work with millefiori glass. It is an Italian word that means a thousand flowers. It involves working with canes of glass and making very complicated patterns. The glass is then cut into slices and we were working with theses slices of millefiori. The picture above has mine piece on the left and my teacher's piece on the right before firing.

This is a second piece we did. This is my teacher's before firing.

These are my two pieces after firing. I have so much fun at class and I'm always amazed at what comes out of the kiln.

First Chilbo (Korean enameling) Class in 2009

Last week was my first chilbo of the new year. My teacher was so happy to see her and it was good to be back. I brought her an American book on enameling and she was thrilled!

This week I learned how to work with stringers which are very thin rods of glass. I was familiar with stringers from my lampworking days. You just break off the length you want of the stringer, dip it into some gooey liquid which keeps it from moving while it's in the kiln.

I have chilbo again today and also my first maedeup class of the year. It will be a busy day.

Constantly Crafting

Tis the season to be crafting, fa la la la la la la la la. I have been busy making Christmas gifts along with continuing my weekly maedeup and chilbo classes. I have been thinking about continuing the chilbo whenever our stay in Korea is over. I do have a kiln thanks to lampwork beadmaking but I have a feeling that the enamels can get quite pricey.

When I started making glass beads, I spent a small fortune on supplies and ended up leaving it all when we moved to Korea. I'm not sure I will light the torch once we return. It's hard to think that far ahead.


I made this compact last week in chilbo and the teacher wrote my name in Korean.


In maedeup, I am perfecting the knots and also learning more complicated and traditional ways to do the knots. I can't tell you how good if feels to make these knots and create a piece of jewelry.

The big news is that I have a U.S. company that is selling the actual Korean maedeup cording that I used. Although my book won't be out until September, I am going to have a couple of tutorials on their site in January so you can learn a maedeup and start making your own jewelry. The company is The Satin Cord Store.

2 Weeks of Chilbo (Korean Enameling)

This week in chilbo (Korean enameling) I learned how to make flowers. I made a pill box cover and a pendant. It took a total of six firings to finish. My teacher had completed the first four firings before I arrived.

Last week I learned how to enamel over silver foil. The enamel is applied very thinly and this mirror took me forever to complete. I wrote my name and my teacher wrote the "Happy Suwon." Her handwriting is better than mine!

Tomorrow we have another wedding Seoul. I'll be back about our Thanksgiving. It turned out great except I forgot to take pictures until the end.

As of Thursday, there is now U.S. beef at our Home Plus. Luckily, I didn't go on Thursday as there were 3o Korean protesters against U.S. beef and they even protested inside the store. It was best to stay away.

Korean Chilbo (Enameling) - The Adventure Continues

This week in chilbo class we worked with silver foil. These are the two pendants I made during class.

While I was working on my pendants, my teacher painted this. It already had the base coat on the copper and I watched as she painted the grass, flowers and words. I had no idea she was making it for me until she used my name card (business card) to spell our names.

Of course, I had to get a picture of her with my painting.

This is one of the pendants right before firing.

Class #2 in Korean Chilbo (Enameling)

I am learning new techniques in Chilbo (Korean enameling) every week. Last week I learned how to cover the pendant with a base coat of enamel. A thin layer of some type of liquid is painted thinly onto the brass pendant and then powdered enamel is tapped over the entire pendant. There is definitely a touch to be able to turn the pendant with your fingertips while your fingertips are holding the pendant. I dropped two which had to be wiped clean before I could start again. My teacher is incredibly patient with me.

After the base coat, I dropped small shards of glass onto the pendant. The pendant was placed into the kiln and as it was melting, the teacher put a long metal rod into the peep hole of the kiln. The rod was bent at a 90 degree angle at the end with a pointed tip. When the pendant was melted, we quickly took the rod out, opened the kiln door and drew a circle through the enamel and closed the door. The rod was put into cold water immediately. The whole process took only seconds but it made a beautiful pattern on the pendants.


This is a blurry picture of the top pendant in the first picture before it went into the kiln. I've ordered an English book on enameling to help me better understand exactly what I am doing. This week I will learn how to apply silver leaf. I can't wait!