Zhen Xian Bao
Today's book is a Chinese Thread Book, or Zhen Xian Bao. This is an obscure Chinese folk art that was practiced in some rural areas of China, and may still be found if you look carefully. Women used these books primarily to keep their sewing supplies (threads, needles, patterns, swatches, etc), and any other bits of paper, photographs, etc that needed saving. I have made this one based on the information collected by Ruth Smith, who introduced the world to this dying craft after she did primary research on these folded books in China. This is one way that they were made and my example has fifteen boxes. Smith identified many variations on the thread book; some with different structures and with quite a lot of variation in the number of boxes.
If you are interested, I made this little video to demonstrate how all the compartments open. I even have some random snippets tucked away in there.
7 comments:
Lovely version, with way more pockets than ones I have seen before!
Beautiful work Rhonda! So many surprises there.
thanks!!
Hi,
I'm exploring making a Folded Secrets box, and am wondering about the type of paper you used for your box..
Thanks,
Julie
Hi Julie, The one in these photos is made from handmade paper from The Morgan Conservatory.
I would love to know the sizes of the papers you used to make this beautiful structure.
Hi Lizzie. I don't remember the size of the papers I used and I no longer have this so I can't go look at it and measure it! However, if you contact Ruth Smith (@foldedsecrets on instagram), you could purchase her book which includes all the paper dimensions and instructions for making these. It's a very good book, well worth it if you are interested in making these.
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