While Shoji is increadibly easy to tear, it's also pretty easy to replace (thank goodness). When we moved in, there were probably about 12 tears in the Shoji throughout our house. Within a few weeks, there were probably close to 30. Cardboard boxes are a major enemy of shoji... That and a litte chihuaha who thinks it's okay to scratch at the paper door.
Step 1.
Locate the tears in your shoji door/s or window covering/s.
Step 2.
Gather your supplies. You will need Shoji paper (shown here in a small roll, but also comes in big rolls that will cover a whole panel in one easy application), special shoji glue (rice based water soluable glue, water soluability is very important, since you will be doing this again and don't want to have to carve off the remnants), and a very sharp razor blade. All told, my supplies cost me about $7.50.
Step 3.
Lay your Shoji panel on a flat surface face down and use your razor to cut out the square you plan to replace making sure to cut as centered on the little cross beams as possible (you don't want the next square coming loose). Rip out the part you want to remove. With a damp cloth, very gently remove any stubborn scraps. (If removing the whole panel, take your damp cloth and soak all cross beams and you should be able to just pull the whole thing off). Let dry. It only takes a moment.
step 4.
Put a thin layer of glue onto all four sides and the cross beams. Smear it with your finger or a paintbrush if you like.
Step 5.
Carefully line up your paper and press it down along the glue, making sure it's stuck in all areas. Be gentle though, because the wood slats may break under too much pressure, and once the Shoji paper gets wet it tears very easily (it too is made from rice). Then carefully cut the excess paper. Let dry again. This time it probably needs about 20 -40 min.
Step 6.
Now that your glue is dry, put your shoji panel back where it came from and grab a squirt bottle full of water (mine happens to be a repurposed hairspray bottle because it cost 750 yen for an empty spray bottle out in town, I figured it was cheaper to dump my hairspray down the drain and buy more later). Sorry I digress, anyway, lightly spray your new paper and probably those directly adjoining it and let them dry. Don't worry when the paper looks a little saggy immediatly following being sprayed. It shrinks as it dries and will soon be tight as a drum, but don't use it as one unless you really enjoyed this repair project.
Step 7.
Step back and enjoy your handi-work. Haha, yes I know my new squares don't match the old. I didn't want to invest in the bigger roll until I knew I could do this without ruining everything. So in the meantime, we have missmatched shoji, but it keeps the warm air where it's supposed to be and now I know I can buy the $13 roll next time without worrying that it's going to be a big gooey wad in the trash...
Cool, you could post this on instructables.com
ReplyDeletenow it looks like tetris with the different colors.
V
And you learned this how?
ReplyDeleteI bet that if you have the oppertunity to look around at others' shoji you will find some with missmatched panels. And as they age the differance should be less, but how long this takes...? It is in keeping with the kitchen motif with it's one door a diferent color. dad
dad, I actually learned this from another blog I'd found, where the man had used the big role to replace the whole panel. The biggest thing I learned from him was spritzing with water. Also that helped me not panic yesterday when it got pretty humid and all my shoji in the house started to look a little limp. Anyway, as far as time, I replaced a total of 26 squares, entertained the baby and even let her help a little (with removal, then thought that might not be the best idea) and I think it took me a total of 2 hours. Had I been able to just sit down and do it, it probably would have been about an hour. and yeah, the colors totally match the kitchen, lol!
ReplyDelete