Tuesday 29 October 2013

Shifu - New Technique

I recently bought a book called Paper Textiles by Christina Leitner which is mainly concerned with making Shifu and I decided to try her technique of turning Lokta into Shifu.  The difference to my previous method is that the paper is wet, rolled in a towel and left to dry and rest for a while.  I leave it overnight before spinning.   This seems to make the final product stronger and because it has been rolled before separating the strands, it is easier to spin.

I cut the strips about 1 cm wide.



The paper is then unfolded on to a towel and sprayed with water.

This  is what it looks like before being  sprayed and wrapped in a towel.

Next I gather the paper and roll it to separate the strands before spinning.


Next I tear it into one long piece (hopefully) then spin it.
Then I spin.



Then I weave.



 This is to be a cover for a book 10 cms square.

This is for a subject for my Tapestry Weaving course called "Produce a Body of Work".  I know it isn't tapestry weaving but it is weaving and it takes as long. I am producing a series of miniature books using Shifu similar, but not the same as, the one I did earlier this year.

3 comments:

Mary said...

Why don't you strip the bark and make the paper too??? (If that is how they do it.)
You make me think of those people who raise sheep, shear them, card and spin the wool, dye it and THEN weave it.
But I realise that these slow processes are very satisfying to do and the development of the work through so many processes into such a lovely thing is amazing.
I also like that you can write whatever you like on the paper, rant as much as you like, and no-one will even be able to read it. So many secrets that can be included.
It makes me think of meditation a bit (not the ranting bit). Enjoy.

Glennis said...

Hi Mary
Legend has it that a warrior in took a secret message across enemy lines in his shifu costume and when he got to the other side the costume was dismantled, unrolled and the message got to the the ruler for whom it was meant. Very clever. It is very meditative except when the Shifu breaks.

Mary said...

Yep, that would take you out of the calmness.