Japanese Art, Shoji Screen, Flint Hill ES 12-13

The project for this month is Shoji Screens made with rice paper, craft sticks, glue, tempera paint, ink pad and rubber stamps. In traditional Japanese architecture, a shōji (障子?) is a door, window or room divider consisting of translucent paper over a frame of wood which holds together a lattice of wood or bamboo.  

Hint:  Paint goes on the ROUGH matte finish side of the rice paper.  DO NOT USE PENCIL ON RICE PAPER. Paint and stamps only. 

Hint for Grades K­‐2:  Volunteers should pre-­glue the craft sticks and string onto front of 

rice paper at least a day before your class session and bring in already assembled. 

For  Higher Grades: 

1. Hand out scrap paper. Practice a design in pencil on scrap paper. Give handouts of Japanese writing and stamp signature designs to help them decide on a design. (This step could be for K-­‐2 as well) 
2. Hand out Manila Folders, Rice Paper, Craft Sticks, String, Plates of Glue, Q-tips  
3. Use folder to work on top of. Have students glue craft sticks on the front oftop and bottom sides of rice paper. Sandwich string between paper and craft stick at the top.
4. When students decide on a signature stamp they’d like to use, have them bring their rice paper on top of folder to stamp station. We found that rubbing the stamp on the stamp pad gives even ink coverage on the stamp 
5. Pump black tempera paint onto plates. Hand out brushes. Have groups of students share paint to do their black calligraphy drawing. 
6. Collect manila folders and put back on cart.  Let screens dry on corner of desk or a place in the classroom that the teacher designates 

These finished Shoji screens will be hung on the windows inside the cafeteria and outside in the hallway for Grace Art night in May. They are inspired by Japanese black ink paintings with a red signature stamp. Have children work out a design on scrap paper before they start if they’d like. Some Japanese paintings are considered poetry and some of the stamps and images can work together to create a poem. Original Japanese works like this were created on silk, where you could not erase the ink, and much thought was put into placement of the images on the silk canvas before the piece of art was started. We have two sets of stamps, one for each cart. There are 13 stamps in each set. Set up a stamp station and have kids bring up their shoji screen on the manila folder to the station. Finish by having students paint an image with black tempera paint. 

Chops make from erasers.