What is Chiyogami Japanese paper?

What is Chiyogami Japanese paper?

QUESTION: How is Chiyogami Japanese made?

SHORT ANSWER: Each colour on Chiyogami is silk screened separately by hand. Solid origami paper is completely machine made and printed. 

LONG ANSWER: To create a single 24x36” sheet of Chiyogami, each base sheet is silkscreened with as many colours as there are in that particular pattern - in most cases, four or five colours  

After the base sheet has been pasted to a wooden board for stability, the first colour is silk screen is registered (lined up) and ink is applied.  



Each sheet of paper is dried on racks while the ink dries between each colour.



For each pattern then, there are as many screens for each colour made and stored.  For a studio with thousands of patterns, this is a lot of screens to store between printings! 

The screens for each colour must be registered (aligned) so that the colour layers lie precisely in relation to each other. 

 Chiyogami paper is made of kozo and sulphite.  Kozo goves the paper it’s characteristic strength and softness, while the sulphite makes it affordable. 

In our 3x3” pack of chiyogami, you get 36 unique patterns of hand screened paper for origami or card-making and paper-crafts!

Click the swatch to see more:

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