Colored Japanese paper

For those of you who use colored Japanese paper for book repair:  there
is at least one source of quality paper.  (I am afraid that many people
are using Japanese paper that has wood pulp, and poorly processed kozo
fibers.)  I recommend Nishinouchi paper, made by Mr. Seiki Kikuchi and
his family. It is a traditional kozo paper that has been used for
printing, crafts, and conservation.  The same high quality paper is the
base for the colored sheets, which are available in dozens of shades.
Natural dyes are used in the winter and synthetic colors in the summer.

I have used the colored sheets as the covering material for drop spine
boxes, so the paper has proved strong enough to work as hinges.

You can send swatches of what colors you are interested in. Or just ask
for 10 (or 15 or 20...) sheets of paper in a range of colors.  Sheets
are approximately 24 by 36 inches, and reasonably priced.

Likewise, you can send samples of your favorite "natural" sheets, and
see what matching weights of Nishinouchi are available.

You can write in English, but do not get fancy with the language!
Mention that you want the papers for conservation.

Mr. Kikuchi visited the Midwest with Mr. Miyazawa (of the Paper Museum,
recently retired) a few years ago.  He will probably do papermaking
workshops on the East coast next spring.  If you go to Japan, he is a
generous host.  (You will want to make appropriate advance arrangements,
of course.)

If someone gets current prices (my last purchase was in 1991, when the
dollar was still worth _something_) please post them.

Seiki Kikuchi
90 Funyu
Yamagata-machi
Naka-gun
Ibaraki-ken 319-31
Japan

Cathy Atwood

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                   Conservation DistList Instance 7:6
                 Distributed: Wednesday, June 23, 1993
                        Message Id: cdl-7-6-004
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