Korean Craft (매듭)

HaeJung, MinJu, and I often get together on Wednesday afternoons since that's MinJu's half day at school and my day off from school. We'd hoped the weather would be good and we'd go somewhere outside. We thought about Seoul Forest since HaeJung and I had biked there when I was in Korea a year ago. Even though the weather was not cooperative, we went to Seoul Forest anyway because HaeJung had found a class in mae dip (매듭), Korean knot tying, being offered for free at the community building in Seoul Forest . We were taught one knot -- but even that limited repertoire wasn't easy. Fortunately HaeJung is very good at learning quickly so she was able to provide me with personal tutoring. I finally got it and was able to produce a few knots which met the instructor's standard.

The instructor, trying very hard to explain the correct procedure to produce the knot.










MinJu, HaeJung, and I.
Celebrating my first successful knot!












It is critical that the knot show an "X" as one color crosses over the other.











There are small knotted balls available which one can add to make the
product more decorative. I tried to make a bracelet but couldn't get the knots close enough together so ended up with something too large for a bracelet and too small for a necklace.


While in the class a camera man and a reporter came to film the class and interview the participants. Apparently it is intended for an Internet production, I suspect to advertise Seoul activities and show what wonderful programs are available to residents at no cost. It's supposed to be on as of Friday. If I learn more/get a web address, I'll let people know. Since I already had my 15 minutes of fame in Korea in 2005 as a member of Shinparam, I'm not expecting there to be any autograph seekers resulting from this filming.

P.S. Never say never. . . . After stating categorically in my last post that I had seen NO graffiti, I found a street underpass leading toward Hongik University that was totally filled with graffiti. Huge graphics covered all the walls.