Making Shoji Screens

One of the most sought after items in the Japanese furniture and decor area is the Shoji screen, sometimes written as the soji screen. Initially used as a supporting wall or a free standing interior screen, its functionality multiplied in course of time. Its popularity and charm has caused great interest in how to make Shoji screens among diy enthusiasts everywhere.

Shoji screens have a wooden framework and rice paper that covers the frame. The designing is beautifully done so as to create a pleasant and comfortable ambience inside a room, in contrast to the world outside. Lighting not so bright or dim gives a relaxing atmosphere to a room. Shoji screens as well as their companion pieces, shoji rice paper lamps serve this purpose, ensuring unobtrusive privacy at the same time.

Moreover, Shoji screens and lamps are movable, flexible and handy. As is the case with much Japanese shoji furniture, functionality, and finish combine to make it a fantastic piece of home furniture. "How to make shoji screens" is an interesting and desired topic to be discussed.

In the West also people often look for furniture which is simple but beautiful perhaps to lessen the stress of living in a fast paced, money driven society. Simplicity in the area of japanese decor also entails mobility and convenience of use. These features of the shoji screen seem to make it more desirable in this busy world.

A multitude of asian and japanese merchants have come up with a wide choice of custom and handmade Shoji screens, all designed to suit different tastes and budgets. Now it seems that for interior designers creating an environment of beauty and harmony wherever they want inside a room is an easy task, working with Shoji screens and Japanese furniture. Now they would be at an advantage if they were also aware of how to make shoji screens.

Japanese shoji screens are actually works of art on wooden lattice panels clothed with translucent rice paper. The rooms can be rendered the space you want using the screens and to any interior décor it gives a touch of elegance. There are a number of books that delve deep on how to make shoji screens besides the info you need to design shoji screens for your own home, apartment or office. The best example of these is How to Design, Build, and Install Japanese Screens.

Let us see the basics of how to build a room divider shoji screen for the do it yourself person. Typical size of the frame is three by eight inch square. Larger sizes are also used depending upon need. The grid work (kumiko) is done to three by four inch, single or three by eight inch square, dual-sided, totaling to three by four plus thickness of substance. Rice paper is fixed using rice glue, this being the traditional Japanese way of building shoji screens. When getting dampened the home made adhesive softens and this makes things easy. With the help of a water spray pot and electric blow drier, the loose rice paper can be tightened to the frame. A particularly good work on Japanese carpentry techniques which you will likely find useful is The Art of Japanese Joinery.

To continue to make your shoji screens you can find about three fashions of pale, little fry, plastic objects. These resemble conventional rice paper but are very strong and last for years which are imported mainly from Japan. One of these is two millimetres thick and would be an ideal choice for outdoor installations, light fixtures, or for usage in a lofty traffic door. This insert material is available in pallid and off-white.

The next type has forty-five millimetre thicknesses. Regular glass type with a strip off film held that is lastingly bonded to it is also available. This is much like a tinting film on the glass. This is used indoors only and looks just like the other two. The new styles available are safety glass that looks like rice paper where rice paper is inserted between the 2 glass layers. For each type of screen, the rice paper is cut to the required size.

Wood materials and supplies that are used for shoji screen construction are often expensive, however their top quality is the luring factor. Basswood is typically used for shoji screens. With a polish off like maple, this looks light and beautiful. Cherry, Port Oxford Cedar, Alaskan Yellow Cedar, Western Red Cedar, Redwood, Walnut, Douglas Fir, Pine, Oak are the other woods used as raw material.