Wood
Our wood of choice for the shoji frame is quarter-sawn American Basswood (Linden), finished with a clear catalyzed lacquer for ease in cleaning and durability. We prefer quarter-sawn wood, sometimes called 'vertical grain', a straight grain pattern with a lovely watered silk appearance. Cherry, Maple, Fir, Port Orford Cedar and other woods are also available.
For the kumiko (grid pattern) we use Port Orford Cedar, which we plane smooth and leave natural. Both Basswood and Port Orford Cedar are a creamy blond/brown and work wonderfully together.
Kumiko Styles
Our shoji are double sided, meaning kumiko (grid pattern) on both sides of the shoji paper for strength and support.
Please see the Kumiko style sheet for a small sample of kumiko options
Japanese Papers
We use two basic types of shoji paper, each reinforced for strength in different ways. To purchase paper separately, go to our supplies page for pricing.
- Warlon
Warlon Paper is Japanese paper with a PVC resin laminated on each side. It's very durable and is washable. Our most popular paper is white Warlon paper with a small amount of paper fiber. We also offer Warlon in amber, bamboo and maple leaf patterns. Other colors and patterns are available in full case quantities.
Warlon Acrylic has the appearance of Warlon paper but is a rigid sheet 2mm thick. It's resistant to water and weather, and can be used in place of glass.
Haru Warlon
has the appearance of Warlon paper but is a sticky-backed acrylic
film for application to glass. It will make your windows look like
shoji paper.
- Laminated Papers
White Unryu is a very soft-looking paper with long curly paper fibers.
Amber Kinwashi is a Japanese paper with short clipped fibers.
For strength these papers are laminated onto both sides of a styrene core. We also have single-sided Kinwashi and Unryu papers available for closet screens, cabinet doors or lighting fixtures.
Tracking Systems
Shoji screens can be tracked in two ways. They can slide in upper and lower wood tracking or hang from metal roller tracking overhead.
- Wood Tracking
Wood tracks are traditional, aesthetic and completely serviceable if
given an occasional coat of wax and kept clean.
The upper wood track is usually Beech - a very hard wood
with a very close color match to the Basswood shoji.
The lower track can be made from the same material as your wood floor, inlaid and finished
to match; or a pre-finished lower track can be used where carpet abuts on either side. (We use a special catalyzed commercial floor finish on our lower tracks.
Our lower tracks have a thumbnail shaped groove that's easy on bare feet and easy to clean. The screens have Teflon glides that slide in this groove.
- Metal Roller Tracking
Metal overhead roller tracks are useful in many applications. This is a good solution when carpet, tile or hardwood extends into a closet and you want to avoid inlaying a floor track.
An adjustable set of rollers is fastened to the top of each shoji screen. These rollers run captive in an aluminum track and cannot jump off the track or become jammed.
Each screen is grooved on the bottom edge and kept from swinging with an invisible spring guide pin installed in the floor. The screen engages this guide pin at all times.
When the shoji need to travel a greater distance than just their width, we use a wood floor track with a small inlaid aluminum channel. Spring-loaded guide pins in the bottom edge of each shoji engage the channel and stabilize the doors.
Our wooden door pulls are imported from Japan. We offer them in Ebony (black), 'faux Rosewood' (reddish brown laminated wood) and
Japanese Cherry (very light pinkish brown). These are carefully hand-inlaid into the shoji frame, not attached to the surface.
For shoji pocket doors, either a touch latch or an inlaid edge pull is installed for extracting the door from its pocket. We use a top quality solid brass pull with an oiled bronze finish.
Door Panels
Clients often request a solid lower panel or kick board in their shoji for pet and child proofing or for appearance. We sometimes use them to help stiffen a particularly tall or wide shoji door.
Our standard panel woods are vertical grain Fir, Maple or Cherry. Custom exotic wood veneers, such as Koa, Anigre and Satin Walnut can be used upon request.
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