Japanese house # 8

Shoji screen paper repair and replacement

Its time to replace the shoji screens down stairs. It was trial and error and a lot of patients. If you take your time you can replace your screens cheaply and still do a great job. Its cool you can get all kinds of prints here and I went with a light bamboo pattern. Of course having a shoji master do it is better but since they get wrecked after a few years I wanted to save money and learn how myself. The master will do a great job and they turn out tight like a drum head but mine came out great and after the first two I got the rest done really fast as the learning curve progressed. I had a few minor wrinkles and they do not come out as tight as a glue job by a master but it looks great! It cost me 4000 yen including the plastic slide rail tape for all the screens total including one mistake. One roll usually does two full size doors. The iron on paper I used is more resistant to stains and dirt due to the fact it has synthetic material in it and it comes of with a heated iron later with far less clean up, however there are may types of iron paper and glue on papers available. I did six units for that price, two window panels and four doors. It took me half the day but next time its only going to take a few hours. Cleaning the glue off was the hardest part but that also went faster as I developed my own technique. The iron on type that I used is a fairly recent development in the shoji world. At least that's what Japanese people have told me. One last thing: The iron I used was a station iron that had to be constantly set back in the base to re heat. Its best to use a plug in iron and experiment with a small piece of the paper at different heat setting. You will always get a little water mark on the back side of the screen unless your frames are sterile and or new. It is virtually invisible later due to the shadow of the frame behind it.


In traditional Japanese architecture, a shōji (障子) is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a sort of grid of wood or bamboo. While washi is the traditional paper, shōji may be made of paper made by modern manufacturing processes; plastic is also in use.
Shōji doors are often designed to slide open, and thus conserve space that would be required by a swinging door. They are used in traditional houses as well as Western-style housing, especially in the washitsu (Japanese-style room). In modern construction, the shōji does not form the exterior surface of the building; it sits inside a sliding glass door or window.
Formerly the word shōji could apply to both fusuma and shōji although with a formal distinction of "karagami shōji" 唐紙障子(fusuma) and "akari shōji" 明り障子(shōji).

The Shoji screen remains one of the most popular items in Japanese style décor. Originating during the third century, the screens have folding panels made of wood with translucent rice paper insets. Its original function was to act as a room divider while providing illumination. They gained great popularity when American architect Frank Lloyd Wright discovered them on a trip to Japan, brought these back and started using them in his house plans. They became more popular when architect Walter Gropius began using the Shoji screen as an integral part of his living space design. At first, he employed native Japanese artists but soon these beautiful works of art were imitated by American crafts professionals.

Read more: http://www.doityourself.com/stry/creating-a-shoji-screen#ixzz0n1B81pNc


More shoji resources:

http://www.japangarden.co.uk/Mend-a-Paper-or-Shoji-Screen-p-59.html

Check out this book: Shoji: How to Design, Build, and Install Japanese Screens (Paperback)

Category:

Howto & Style

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[nwatkins18]

if it's so sensitive to heat, wouldn't the muggy summers make the shoji paper fall off?

[toddatron]

@nwatkins18 warm water is enough to remove old glue. Moisture in the air is not enough but if you had left your screens exposed to rain by leaving the glass door open then yes you may have some problems with the paper. I replaced the traditional style paper with a synthetic type that is stronger and resistant to moisture/wetness but has the same filtering characteristics.

[ichigo9995303]

コオブアレヨウインジャパンイヨウアレエンィ？/cool but why are you in japan if you are english?

[toddatron]

@ichigo9995303 Josh? Well cause .....lets just say at 40 I needed a change of scenery.... That's as plain as I can put it.

[ichigo9995303]

@toddatron ah i see and how do u know my name?

[toddatron]

@ichigo9995303 Cause you said it on your vid:P

[pegz696]

Agreed, these videos are great, Just wish i could stay in Japan for a while. I love there way life.

[jbelux]

cool video ....

[Crowsdoblacken]

it isnt very important but they tell you not to use a dull scraper is because traditional common shoji doors are not sanded or lacquered simply stained (they use a soft wood tree so as to lessen roughness on people when they are touched instead of sanding the wood) so inturn you are removing the stained wood when you scrape ;) good luck

[BelloBudo007]

I wonder why a more durable 21st century material isn't used. For example there's some wonderful light weight opaque perspex that would be easy to clean and last a very long time. Paper screens was probably once high tech but why keep on doing it?

[Tsteezy1]

I don't live in Japan and my hardware store does not sell rice paper do you have any other suggestions of where I might be able to buy it?

[zilviosilvio]

@toddatron what's the synthetic material you used as replacement called? and where do i buy it? tnx!

[iLOVENATURE2011]

nice instruction to repair shoji windows...thank you.

[AlMayer1100]

working with glue and water instead of ironing will make all the tensioning for you ;)

[Smithpolly]

See. Men do iron.

[funnygal14]

WOW. Thank you so much! :D

[litonfire1]

You sound like kipkay when you are behind the camera.