Sell Your Seoul Trip 2 - Day 6 - Bukchon Cultural Center - Traditional Korean Paper Crafts

As the Scandinavians say, there is no such thing as bad weather just poor preparation. I had been warned that today would be particularly freezing and so I took this adage to heart. After lathering myself up with body butter, I made sure to wear long underwear and two, yes two, pairs of gloves.


Within minutes, I was lost. Weaving through the tiny streets that make up Jongno-gu, my taxi driver couldn't seem to find my first destination of the day. No need to worry, though, as this cab was equipped with a state-of-the-art GPS system. Plugging in the address, it's a relief to know we were actually just around the corner from the Bukchon Cultural Center.

I've realized the Koreans really like to play with han ji, that special paper I found earlier in the week. At the Bukchon Cultural Center, women enroll in classes and learn the art of making dolls. Welcomed into the traditional wooden building by three artists, I was shuffled towards the space heater and seated on the floor in front of some very realistic looking dolls. These things are made of that thin paper? I couldn't believe it.

Now, playing with dolls really isn't my thing. I'm more of a poker and darts kind of girl. However, I must say, there was something very soothing about playing with the glue after such an action-packed week. I couldn't believe I was going to take something so simple as paper and turn it into a doll like the ones before me. Wrong, once again. It turns out the ladies here were warned that the fairly clumsy American chick coming in to visit had artistic skills that were, how do I put this politely, pretty crappy. You can do this, Sandy. Use your gentle touch so perfectly channeled in flip cup games of years past. Slowly and surely, false-confidence once again saved my soul. With the expert guidance of In Myung Sook, my clumsy initial attempts at doll-making morphed into a pretty accurate pumpkin replica.

The highlight of this entire experience was playing with the glue - and of course meeting the wonderful women who were kind enough to share with me this classic Korean hobby. If you find yourself in Seoul and are confident in your artistic abilities, then I highly suggest making your way to Bukchon. For the sake of all involved, however, it's probably best that I stick to expressing myself with the written word.