Showing posts with label Artists' Books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Artists' Books. Show all posts

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.