Charcoal stuffing your stocking? Lucky you!

Home > Culture > Features

print dictionary print

Charcoal stuffing your stocking? Lucky you!

테스트

As stocking-stuffers go, charcoal is only one step away from its hated elder brother: regular coal. And as Santa-lists go, a good majority of us this year have been only one step away from very bad: we’ve been, well, regular bad.
The good news is that charcoal is a surprisingly versatile substance, capable of being formed into some pretty cool gifts. Cool enough, almost, to justify what we did to earn those stocking-stuffers in the first place.

Photo Frames
Materials: Acrylic plates (You can buy them at stores in Euljiro 3-ga. A plate with a size of 880 by 1,050 mm, or 34 by 41 inches, costs about 10,000 won ($9). Make sure to have them cut to the size you want at the store, as it’s difficult to cut the plates on your own.); an old frame; a small mirror with lines attached (these can be purchased at the tree ornament store on the 3rd floor of the floral shop building at Gangnam Express Bus Terminal); ribbons; a glue-gun; adhesive tape and charcoal.
Directions: Take the glass off the old frame and stick the acrylic plate on the frame. It’s better to use double-sided adhesive tape rather than glue. Using a glue-gun, stick the charcoal onto the acrylic. Glue the small mirror ornament over it. Using adhesive tape, glue ribbons on each corner for the finishing touch.

Wreaths
Materials: Charcoal; gold wax candles; poinsettias (artificial); ribbons; a glue-gun and adhesive tape.
Directions: Use the glue-gun to attach the charcoal together into donut, then glue the poinsettias onto the charcoal. Prepare two ribbons of different sizes and widths, roll them up and fix them with adhesive tape so they won’t unravel, then attach then onto the charcoal.

Ornamental Plates
Materials: Charcoal (cut naturally in moderate size); a platter (colored plastic ones are preferred); glass bowls for christmas tree decorations; artificial flowers; styrofoam; black paper tape and silver tape (3mm wide).
Directions: Wind the silver tape around the glass bowl twice. Put the charcoal inside the bowl. Cut the styrofoam into small pieces, wrap it in black tape, and put it in between the charcoal. The tape may make it difficult to stick the artificial flowers into the styrofoam, so drill some holes in advance, using an awl. Place the glass bowl and the artificial flowers between the charcoal.

Stamp Decorations
For original, elaborate stamp decorations to put on your christmas cards, online shopping malls offer a variety of choices. One is www.stampmama.com, which offers imported stamps that range from 10 centimeter Christmas tree stamps to stamps of snowflakes and Christmas messages. The prices are around 10,000 won ― a bit steep. You can order custom made stamps engraved with your name at www.stamp-house.co.kr, and at www.wowstamp.com, you can pick out the design you want for a custom made stamp.


by Ahn Hye-ree
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)