Jisueng Octagonal box
The Jiseung Octagonal Jokduri box
In the past, in Korea, women wore an unique coronet called 'Jokduri(Korean traditional bridal crown)' for weddings and special ceremonies.
The box which kept the Jokduri, was used not only to store valuables, but also to decorate the boudoir. Jokduri box was mainly made of wood, and was gorgeously decorated with metal and mother of pearl. I made Jokduri box out of paper using an unique Korean traditional craft technique called 'Jiseung Craft'.
'Jiseung' refers to cutting Hanji into long strips and twisting them.
And, 'Jiseung Craft' refers to the technique of cutting Korean paper into thin and long pieces, rubbing it with the fingertips to make strings, twisting the two strings to make a double string, and using the double string as the warp and the single string as the weft to make various objects. Jiseung Craft is also called 'Noyeokgae' in pure Korean.
Jiseung craft originated from the Joseon Dynasty, when paper was scarce, when scholars cut and twisted the paper from books they had finished studying to make various objects. When supplies were scarce, paper crafts were used as luxurious household items of the upper class at the time.
This Jokduri box was made with a turtle shell pattern, and the upper part of the lid and the lower part of the body were woven with only one string to give a decorative effect.The inner frame of the main body of Jokduri box was solidly made by weaving a single string in two layers, and it was finised with glutinous rice paste.The Jiseung Octagonal Jokduri box is made of two layers, so it is strong and practical because it is very light compared to its sense of volume.
