Turning UNESCO rock art into keycaps and keyrings

The Ulsan Petroglyph Museum will hold a summer vacation craft workshop Thursday and Friday, inviting children and families to recreate motifs from the UNESCO World Heritage Site "Bangucheon Petroglyphs" — including whales, deer and other figures carved into the rock — as everyday accessories. Sessions will take place in the first-floor seminar room.

The program, titled "Tok-tok! Making Petroglyph Keycaps and Keyrings," is tied to the museum's ongoing special exhibition "Time Repository: Data of That Day," which aims to help visitors connect with the World Heritage Site through hands-on experiences.

Drawing on the recent popularity of custom keycap and keyring crafting, the program lets participants reinterpret petroglyphs — whales, deer, hunting tools and other motifs engraved at the Bangucheon site — as personal accessories, offering an accessible and engaging way to appreciate the meaning and value of the cultural heritage.

Participants will draw and color petroglyph designs onto Shrinky Dinks, a special plastic film that shrinks in size while growing thicker and harder when heated, to produce their own keycaps and keyrings.

The finished keyrings are expected to serve both as souvenirs that keep the heritage site in everyday memory and as hands-on learning materials. Sessions run from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on both days, with three sessions per day for a total of six, each accommodating up to 20 participants.

The museum is currently hosting the special exhibition "Time Repository: Data of That Day," which uses physical artifacts and digital content to convey the value of the World Heritage Site.