Bangtan Hermana Notes: Little Pockets of Light

What began as an ARMY Glow Up project in 2022 has become a habit of meditation. I turn to cyanotype printing on days when I’m beat, anxious or unwell. And that’s what I did.

I must have caught something viral last weekend and now I’m nursing a bad cold, allergies and back pain. I’m not new to this so I pulled out my meds; took a leave off work; and slept as much as I can. Willing myself to feel better even more, I turned to my cyanotype kit and allowed the sun, water and time to heal me.

I have been waiting for the perfect sunlight, and a clear blue sky. There should be no wind at all.

Yesterday morning, all three converged. The time was just right! Thank you, Nature!

ARMY Daughter gave me flowers last Mother’s Day. I left some violet ones to dry in room temperature and they still look lovely. I’ve been meaning to catch them in light and in shadow. The moment arrived and the prints were beautiful.

And somewhere between arranging the flowers, waiting for the sun, watching the images slowly emerge in water, and simply being present with the process, I realized something: healing is not only found in medicine and rest. Sometimes, healing also happens when we make something with our hands. When we slow down enough to notice light, shadow, water, time, and the small transformations happening in front of us.

This is another gift of making art. It gives the mind somewhere quiet to go.

So, for Namjoon’s birthday month, I’m celebrating this little practice that began because of ARMY Glow Up and has grown into something much more personal: a way of pausing, breathing, making, and finding my way back to myself.

To make art is to pay attention. To pay attention is to be present. And sometimes, being present is its own kind of healing.

Thank you, Joon, for reminding us, in so many ways, to love ourselves, keep growing, and live well in this one beautiful life. May we all keep making little pockets of light.

When Seoul Surprises: What We Learn From Namjoon’s Continuing Namjooning

The ginkgo and birch trees that line the streets of Seoul has always fascinated me. I can’t think of a better word to describe the mood and the vibe. Basta, they’re romantic. Trees are romantic.

So, I plucked a couple of leaves from a ginkgo tree in front of the middle school where Min Yoongi studied and, in Hongdae, leaves from a birch tree. I carefully tucked them inside my journal as precious keepsakes but also as subjects for my cyanotype prints.

A few days ago, I took advantage of the afternoon sun in our yard and began printing. We were on a very tight budget in South Korea, so I thought of crafting something that would journey from there to here and back again. The more I read about these trees, the more I understood why they quietly stayed with me.

The ginkgo is one of East Asia’s most enduring symbols.

Having survived for millions of years, it is often called a “living fossil.” Across Korea, China, and Japan, it represents resilience, longevity, hope, and quiet endurance. Ginkgo trees stand beside temples, schools, and palaces, witnessing generations come and go. They remind us that strength is not always loud. Sometimes, it simply means remaining rooted while the seasons change around us.

The birch tells a different story.

Its pale bark has long symbolized renewal, new beginnings, and simplicity. Even after long winters, birches are among the first trees to suggest that spring is coming. There is something quietly optimistic about them.

Together, these two trees seemed to tell the story of our journey at Festa 2026. One reminds me to endure. The other reminds me to begin again. That is why I could not simply leave their leaves behind on the streets of Seoul. Instead, they came home with me.

Under the Philippine sun, they became cyanotype prints. In a few days, I will frame them as pasalubong for my ARMY friends and Kdrama Titas. These are my souvenirs made from leaves, sunlight, water, paper, and time. Perhaps that is what the best pasalubong has always been. It is not the price tag, but the thought that someone traveled through a place, remembered you, and returned carrying a story worth sharing.

As I looked at each finished print, I realized they were no longer simply  leaves from Korea. They had become conversations between Seoul and home. Between Namjoon’s way of noticing the world and my own.

For the longest time, Namjooning for the fandom meant visiting museums, bookstores, parks, and cafés because Namjoon had once been there. I think it means something much more.

It is learning to notice. To slow down enough for ordinary things to reveal themselves. To understand that beauty is not something we consume but something we learn to pay attention to.

A fallen leaf. A neighborhood tree. An afternoon walk. The warmth of the sun while making a cyanotype print. A simple gift made by hand.

Namjooning is not about collecting places. It is about allowing places to reshape the way we see ourselves and the world. As a librarian, I have always believed that stories live inside books.

But I also believe that stories live inside leaves, trees, sunlight, and the hands that choose to create. That is why Namjooning never really ends.

Allow a place to tell its story and listen with intention. Bring its story with you and let it inspire you to create something new. Apobangpo. Purple and true. 💜

Poetry: it only takes two colors

it only takes two colors, blue and yellow

though chemistry has a name for them i keep it simple mix them in a small white dish the paper awaits, 200 gsm of virginal capacity i wash the colors, looking murky green

on cotton paper

today’s subjects: a coin from BTS Thonglor Station, loose change from a basement café near Myeongdong Cathedral, small bottles of cologne and liniment now empty, and flowers from the soursop tree Uwan uprooted all memories now— remembered in light and shadow, preserved in indigo hue

Meeting Art Exhibit: Bloom and Duality

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Meeting Art Exhibit: Wildflower 1 Cyanotype + Digital Print

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Advent, BTS and Cyanotype Printing

Inspired by RM of BTS’ full length album, Indigo, I ventured into learning Cyanotype printing early this year. With the help of Enzo Abalayan showing me how to make prints, I was further motivated to learn this new skill as my ARMY Glow Up 2025 project. Collaborating with the talented Sin So, my Tita ARMY chingu, we were able to design tote bags that were sold at the bazaar during the Pearl ARMY Festa of 2024. It was a special endeavor and personal project since part of the proceeds funded my parents’ medical care. Needless to say, being ARMY and my fangirling has led me to graces I never asked for. Believe if or not, I find God there in all His amazing glory.

Since then, I would make prints as a mental health break. Keeping a few in a portfolio that may lend to a new project in the future. When I received an invitation from friends in Magis Deo to share something for our kids, teens and young adults in the community, I immediately said yes.

I thought about conducting a Cyanotype printing workshop for our Magis Deo Youth. The idea made me happy. I looked forward to the activity during an exhausting but productive week in school. I was going to share a skill that began as an ARMY Glow Up 2025 Goal under AGU Recreation and proud that I learned it from a former student. What’s more, I was excited to connect Cyanotype printing with the message of Advent.

Advent is the season of waiting. Advent is the season of light breaking through the shadows.

Advent is a time when we are called to recognize and accept change.

Advent is an opportunity for transformation.

Cyanotype printing, with its vivid blue tones and shadowy, ethereal imagery, has a poetic resonance with the season of Advent. Cyanotypes capture light in a unique way, creating images through sunlight exposure. This parallels Advent’s theme of light emerging from darkness, as cyanotypes reveal delicate forms and shadows when exposed to light, symbolizing hope and revelation.

Since Advent is a season of waiting and preparing for light to break into the darkness, Cyanotype printing follows a similar process that involves anticipation, patience, change and transformation. Such abstract ideals, beliefs and concepts may be too far off to be fully understood by children — even adults. To enrich our context of Advent as we all prepare for this season of hope in chaotic and confusing times, an art activity such as Cyanotype printing may prove meaninfgul for the child and the child at heart.

Our Magis Deo Youth participants in this morning’s Cyanotype Printing activity brought home their hand made cyanotype greeting cards and “photographs”. Glad and grateful to learn something new as well as making art that restonates with the anticipation and joy of Christ’s birth.

Griffins Learn Together: Cyanotype Printing with Enzo Abalayan

Last Friday, my former student, Enzo Abalayan was on campus teaching me cyanotype printing. We are preparing for the yearly Alternative Class Days. Part of it are test runs and walk throughs of processes and activities which informs us of logistics, budgetary and instructional issues and decisions. In return, I gave Enzo some ideas and suggestions for him to draft the proposal. 

 I didn't expect it would be easy and simply amazing. Enzo was patient and entertained all my questions. At one point he said that he didn't see himself working with chemicals since Chem was a tough subject in the DP. Back in the Academy, he struggled through his science classes but, thanks to the arts. It became an avenue for overcoming challenges and self-doubt. 

 Ouie, this one is dedicated to you!

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