Itโs monsoon season in South Korea, which makes going outdoors activities a bit of a hassle. However, it is the perfect opportunity for us K-fans to bring out the photocards weโve collected and start getting crafty! That is exactly what my friends and I did for a day. We had a blast on our Kpop Polco Day!
What is Kpop Polco?
Kpop Polco stands for Korean Pop polaroid decorating. It is a huge trend among fans of Korean music, movies, and dramas, particularly among teens and those in their early 20s. It combines elements of three trends; 90โs resurgence, Korean wave, and DIY.
It is a form of collaging art that uses images of Korean celebrities as the main image. Then, stickers, words, and animated characters are often added to the image.
While many fans create physical Kpop polco, you can create them digitally as well. Many artists then sell their work on different platforms to fellow fans.
Polaroids & Stickers
Before diving into making our Kpop polco, we had to acquire our base supplies first.
We started with our main pictures. For some of the pictures, we found them online and printed them out in a polaroid format. And for others, we brought our own photo cards of our favorite idols.
After we had our base images, the next thing we need was stickers! The day before we went to a sticker shop called Dudumoon. It is a paradise for Kpop Polco enthusiasts or anyone who enjoys scrapbooking. The shop was filled with every kind of sticker and stationery imaginable. Each sticker sheet costs around 2,500 Won but they also sell random packs if you are looking for more stickers at a cheaper price!
As for the other materials, we went to Daiso, something similar to a dollar store in Korea, as it is way cheaper there. After our collecting our supplies from our sticker haul the day before, we were ready to start our Kpop Polco day!
Decorating Day!
We have 5 things prepared:
- Main Images: Polaroids/ Photo Cards
- Tweezers
- Stickers
- Top-loaders
- Snacks! (VERY IMPORTANT)
Before we started decorating, one of our friends who is more experienced in polco laid out her sticker collection to have us choose our supplies. Together we discussed which aesthetic we were aiming for with each polaroid.
After getting a good idea of the concept we wanted to go for, we took around 30 minutes to choose the stickers we wanted to use out of our collection. Since there were so many options, it took us a while to choose exactly what layout and materials we wanted to use. Therefore, an hour into the activity is when we started to actually decorate our polaroids.
It took us around 30 minutes to decorate one polaroid, which was surprisingly long, but we noticed that it is due to overthinking. We spent so much time discussing what goes well with the polaroids and what the best placement was for each sticker and eating our yummy snacks. The activity that we thought would last only around 3 hours, became a whole day activity. We had several polaroids per person to decorate and once we started, it was hard to stop ourselves. It was so much fun!
Final Product
After 5 hours, I finally finished decorating around 15 polaroids and photocards! I went with a more minimalistic style compared to my friends, but regardless I am still giving myself a pat in the back for finishing all of it.
Here are some pictures of how it turned out, what do you all think about it? Seeing this, are you up for the challenge of decorating your own kpop polcos?
