Shoji Screen Material Sources
Here are a few leads if you're shopping around for material for those translucent Japanese paper screen assemblies. June 18, 2009
Question
I have a client for whom I am making a closet area for her bedroom. The concept is to have three equal sliding doors of about 60" H x 42" W. We have talked about a simple frame and panel door with the panel being some sort of material in a Japanese style. Not rice paper, it needs to be tougher than that for a closet door. But maybe a sort of rattan screen. Does anyone out there have any ideas about a supplier of screening materials that might be appropriate for this type of project? All ideas are welcome, we are still conceptualizing.
Forum Responses
(Furniture Making Forum)
From contributor M:
Last time I checked, japanwoodworker.com sold the annually replaced paper. Try 3Form for plastic materials that could work.
From contributor R:
It just so happens that I took some literature from a supplier of such materials at IWF. Inter-Mares Trading deals in all sorts of cane and bamboo weaves, fronds and the like.
From contributor C:
There is a place here in San Diego that sells a wide range of materials for Japanese screens/panels. I have used both his acrylic shoji paper type material and the woven bamboo 'Ajiro' material. Both are durable and tougher than traditional rice paper. The company is CTT Furniture.
From contributor M:
We have done "shoji" screens on bathroom vanities and found the best and most economical material as a rice paper panel to be "auralite". It's a fiberglass sheet that comes in various thicknesses, and cuts like Plexiglas.
