Shifu: Weaving with Paper

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Introduction:

Now that I’m back home I have time to make more proper posts with photos of my 2 ½ weeks in Japan. We were extremely busy and went to a lot of interesting places. We visited an artist in Yamazawa who weaves with paper, and we had a chance to make some paper weft thread and weave it into cloth.

Here is a hanging made of paper hanging in the studio. I took the photo because it seemed like a really good idea to make a wall hanging without using a lot of weft or weaving time.

Old account books are popular for making thread for weaving. I’ve collected some myself over the years, hoping to make some shifu cloth myself. This time I mean it!

Here is a spool of the paper weft. The black marks (and maybe a red one or two) are from the notes written on the account books. People didn’t pay for each purchase but had a page in the merchant’s account book and paid up periodically. They were available on my past trips in flea markets.

How the treads were made.
We cut the paper into strips about 1/8 wide in such a way as to make very long strings. The cutting didn’t go clear to the edges of the paper, sort of like a paper lantern. We stretched out the cut paper and where the paper hadn’t been cut, it made a little bump where the paper was stretched. (See the book below.)Then we twisted it off the point of a spinning device. Formerly, I twisted it off the point of a bobbin winder.

Then came the weaving.
For several others, it was their first weaving experience, and they were thrilled beyond belief.

There is a special look of the cloth—little bumps or irregularities where the uncut paper was twisted.  Unless it’s very professionally made you can tell a shifu cloth by those little bumps.

This is the book I plan to use to make my own shifu. It goes into detail about cutting and also about what papers are good. In my  first class I took years ago we used old paper dress patterns.

Here’s a photo from the book that shows the irregularities indicating it is woven with shifu paper wefts.

20 thoughts on “Shifu: Weaving with Paper”

  2. I love Shifu! I’ve heard that there is a way to cure the cloth so that it is waterproof, but I haven’t been able to find out more. I’ve looked in Susan Byrd’s book. Can you help? Thanks, Peggy!

    Reply

    • My book doesn’t mention that. Here’s from the Bibliography. Two things by Susan Byrd-one an article in Ornament vol. 12, no. 2 (1998), 61-71.
      Jorstad, Caroline, Shifu: Spun Paper Weaving, Shuttle Spindle & Dyepot (Summer 191920, 91-92
      mILLER, dOROTHY, sHIFU: a hANDWOVEN pAPER tEXTILE OF jAPAN, aRS tEXTRINA VOL. 4 (dEC. 1985), 43-66
      mILLER dOROTHY, sHIFU: a hANDWOVEN pAPER tEXTILE, hANWOVEN (mAY/jUNE 1985), 69-71
      Sahlstrand, Margaret, Paper Clothing, East and West, Fiberarts (March/April 1984), 36-38

      Reply

      • The video by Susan Byrd about rolling paper threads for Shifu mentioons that the cloth is washable and be even washed in the machine. She said this in passing.
        Peggy

        Reply

  11. Amazing! I would love to learn how to weave with paper! Any suggestions on books or classes? I live in Los Angeles. Thank you! Irene Tobias 310-343-8484

    Reply

  14. I took a workshop in LA from the author of the book you mentioned, Hiroko Karuno. It was wonderful. I haven’t gotten back to doing this process though I plan to. There are two other books you should look for, “A Song of Praise for Shifu” by Susan J. Byrd and “Hanji Unfurled: One Journey into Korean Papermaking” by Aimee Lee. Also Susan Byrd has some good videos on YouTube demonstrating Shifu.

    Reply

    • Thanks a lot for the sources. Susan Byrd has been mentioned already and I’ll check her videos and the Korean book.
      Peggy

      Reply

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