Japanese Crafting

 Here at Camp Zama there is an Arts and Crafts Center. When I first heard about it I was super excited to sign up for classes and start crafting. Sadly, with COVID they had to scale way back on the classes they offer and how many people can attend. 

But, I have been able to attend two classes so far. The most recent class I attended was called Washi Paper Boxes. I had no idea what kind of class this would be, but I'm always game to try!

The project comes in a kit and is all made from paper. To begin you tape together the base. The materials used are not like anything I have seen before. On the little zouri box, the white cardboard base and the top are segmented so that you can shape them into an oval. That is then covered with a smooth strip of a little thinner cardboard and then you start the wrapping of the box in red, black, and finally the colored washi papers. (below are some pics I took and some that were taken by a US Army reporter doing a story on the Arts and Crafts Center)

One fun detail is that there is a foam piece under the paper on both boxes - so the tops are slightly raised (padded). As you can tell, there are many steps, and LOTS of layers of paper carefully placed so that in the end you have a seamless box. I don't think I could have figured it out without the instructors' help! 

It was fun to learn a new craft with materials and processes that were completely new to me.  After the boxes were complete the instructors told us to look for these type of boxes around Japan. They are often in souvenir shops. 

I'm very late in posting about this, but since this post is about the Arts and Crafts Center - the other class I attended was in December. We made Christmas wreaths from wood rounds cut from one of the trees they had to take down here at the base. It was an interesting way to make a wreath, but I liked how it turned out and its fun to have a few pieces of Camp Zama to keep!