Body of Work

I had to produce a Body of Work for my course and as I have not done any tapestry since the  large tapestry for last year, I decided to play around with Shifu books as I already had one book completed which, I am pleased to say, was accepted in the Books...beyond words exhibition at Bairnsdale earlier this year.

So, here it is.

Shifu Books

Artist Statement
This body of work brings together two of my passions - books and all they entail, words, stories and paper; and weaving in the form of Shifu. I am influenced by the Roman rhetorician Quintillian, who taught that after we have chosen our words, we must weave them into a fabric until we have a fine and delicate texture.
Shifu is a traditional Japanese technique of turning paper into cloth which originated in the 16th c.  Legend has it that a spy had to cross enemy lines to deliver an important message and to avoid being caught he cut the message into strips, twisted it into fibres and wove it into cloth and clothing so he passed through unnoticed.  On arriving at his destination, the fabric was unravelled and the message delivered.  Realistically, rural peasants and farmers were the first to make cloth from paper and they often used old account books because the paper was strong and the characters on the page made interesting speckled patterns.
To make the Shifu, I use Nepalese paper called Lokta and the process is described on my previous blog and an earlier on called Shifu, Weaving Paper.   I like the idea that the text is present in the page but no longer decipherable.  Hopefully, it allows the reader to imagine their own story, cued by  the title.

I have made 4 books - In Conversation, Shifu, a short history, Sonnets, lines by E B Browning and Between the Lines. Three of the books measure 8 x 10 cm and one, the history is 10 cm square.

 In Conversation  was the one I submitted to the Books...beyond words; Revolution.  My revolution was that the words were in the page not on it

I used red and purple inks to denote the different speakers.

Shifu, a short history.  The cover of this is made from shifu and the small piece added with the eucalyptus flower was an experiment.

The writing is like weaving.

Sonnets; Lines from E B Browning.  I love her book called Sonnets from the Portuguese.

The binding is plaited Shifu.

The text makes interest patterns.

 And the last is  Between the lines because I wove plain pages and stitched them for you to write your own story.

Some of the stitching

I have amused myself imensely playing with these trifles.

Small things amuse ... me!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Shifu Book

I finished my Shifu Book and I am very happy with it.  The book is titled "In Conversation" and there are no words on the page; the words are in the page (see last blog). The pages were easier than I thought to sew together using chain stitch then I reverted to the days when I was studying to be a Teacher-Librarian and we learned to make books and made the cover and end papers to keep it together. I used silk paper for the cover and a fine paper I had for the end papers; both papers I bought in Vietnam.  It pays not to throw things out as they will come in handy one day.

The red leather strap is attached to the inside front cover.

 I used some of my original white thread to add contrast.

It worked quite well for someone who has not done this for ages and I enjoyed it.  

Shifu

A while back I saw that Beautiful silks in Fitzroy were having a Natural Dye Symposium and that one of the workshops was called Shifu and making miniature books. As I very inerested in things miniature, I enrolled without having investigated what Shifu is. Shifu involves cutting very fine paper, lokta, into strips like a paper lantern, then cutting it to have a continuous strip then spinning this to make a paper thread with which you weave to make Shifu.

A ball of spun paper

My first attempt.

As you can see , my first  attempt is not very even due to the fact that paper under strain breaks and I broke several warps.  However for a first attempt I thought it not too bad.  There were 9 in the class and I am very glad I did it as 2 of the other participants were also tutors at the Symposium. The tutor was Velma Bolyard and this was her first trip to Australia from  the USA and the students came from the eastern states of Australia and NZ.  We also made miniature book structures including one called a flag book which when you use different cououred papers is eally interesting.

Diligent  workers.

It was a very intense class and most people would baulk at the thought of spinning paper (it takes hours).
Velma had some gorgeous shifu books and one day (?) I hope to have 1 too. I have put  a link to her blog in my links.