How to make Hanji?
1. Gathering Dak
In November and December, during the off-season, Dak is gathered by cutting off the one-year old branches from the trees.
2. Dak Boiling
In the old days, they used to dig two connected holes in the ground for boiling.
One hole was usually around 2.7 meter in diameter and 1.5 meter deep. The other one was a little bit bigger than the other.
3. Peeling
The thick dark exterior skin is first peeled from the Dak branches.
Then, this dark skin is soaked in a running stream of water, free of iron, for about 10 hours.
After soaking, the dark
skin is then further peeled off to reveal a green interior skin. Then, the green skin is peeled off to reveal the useful white skin.
4. Drying
All these processes should be done during the winter season.
The white skin is dried in the sun so that Dak doesn't become frozen.
5. Soaking
Soak the white skin in water for 24 hours to make it soft. The water should be iron-free for better hydration of the fibers. Koreans generally put Dak skin in a running stream for a day.
6. Boiling
Chop the soaked white skin into the desired size, and boil it in a large iron pot for about 4-5 hours.
Then put some lye (caustic soda containing NaOH) in the water so that the Dak skin gets soft enough. Vegetable lye is superior to a caustic soda for the prevention of fiber damage.
7. Bleaching
This step includes the washing and exposing of Dak to the sun. Leave the boiled material in the pot overnight.
The next day, soak the material in running iron-free water and leave it in there for three days. During this process, stir the material frequently so that all of it can be exposed to the sun equally. This way, the material turns white evenly.
8. Picking out motes
Take the material out of the water and pick out cuticles, knots, dormant buds and sand by hand.
9. Making Dak Paste (Dissolving Dak)
Put the clean Dak on a board or flat stone and beat it with a wooden bat until it becomes like sludge.
10. Getting paper
Put the Dak paste in a barrel with iron-free water filled, and stir it with a long bamboo stick 200 times. Then, strain the paste through a special net to separate the paper from the liquid and put the wet paper on a wall outside and let it dry.
