Cardboard Shoji Screen - Room Partition

This is a great inexpensive way of making a Shoji Screen room divider with cardboard, especially for those college students out there on a budget!

I made no new purchases and only made use of whatever items I had on hand. You can modify the dimensions or materials to suit your needs.

Step 1: Materials

This is a scaled-down version of a full-size screen because of the limited amount of cardboard that I had on hand. If I had larger and more pieces of cardboard, I would have made this taller and with 3 panels. Ideally, this screen should be twice its size in height (72" x 18") and with 3 panels instead of 2.

Materials I used to make a 2-panel, 36" x 18" Shoji screen:

4 pieces of cardboard (36" x 18"), the thicker the better. These pieces were all taken from a single moving box that I had. Cut carefully and make your edges as clean as possible. You can find free cardboard on Craigslist, if you live in the U.S. People that have recently moved or have bought furniture will usually be eager to get rid of their excess cardboard boxes and will list them for free.

12 pieces of onion-skin paper (8.5" x 11"). These can be purchased at any office supply store. You can substitute onion paper with rice paper, vellum, or any other semi-transparent paper. The semi-transparency will filter light and give it a nice glow.

3 Cable ties/Zip ties

Other items: ruler, fat color markers, pen/pencil, clear tape, box cutter, glue. I would've used Gorilla Glue, if I had any. ;-)

Step 2: Paper Layout

Lay out your paper on a flat surface and carefully tape 6 pieces together. There's no need to seal the entire edges with tape, just enough to hold them together. Do the same with the other 6 pieces and then connect the two with a couple of small pieces of tape. You will be separating these 2 halves later.

Step 3: The Artist in Me

Now let the creative side of you take over! Start drawing whatever pleases you on all 12 pieces of paper. I used my markers to draw bamboo. Yes, it's bamboo! Sorry, I'm no artist!

I did not extend my drawing to the very edges of the paper, because this will covered by the borders of the cardboard.

Step 4: Using My Left Cerebral Hemisphere

Mark a 2" border for the top and sides of one of the cardboard panels. Make sure you only make these marks on the printed side. You don't want to mark up the clean side of the cardboard.

I made the bottom border about 6" from the bottom. If you're making your screen taller, you will need to make the bottom border larger (higher) so that the screen will hold its rigidity. For instance, if you're making a 72" x 18" screen, make the bottom border at least 20" high.

Next separate your drawing, and place 1 half on top of one of your cardboards and start making marks so that you will know where to cover the seams of the paper. You will want to make your "seam" borders (where each paper is connected) about 1" wide, and make sure that these borders cover your paper seams.

Once you've made all your marks, lay your drawing on top again to make sure that all the seams are covered. You should be able to see all your lines through the transparency of the paper.

Step 5: Clean Cut

Cut out your windows with a box cutter.

I find it easier to cut cardboard on top of my carpet rather than on tile. If you need to, use a ruler to guide your box cutter. Use your first cut-out as a template for the rest of the cardboards. Again, make sure you are not making any marks on the clean side.

Step 6: Gorilla Glue

Now lay one half of your drawing on top of a panel, making sure the borders cover up the paper seams. Now carefully glue the drawing onto your cardboard panel. Take another cardboard panel and glue this on top of the paper, so that the paper is sandwiched between the 2 cardboard panels. Make sure you are not applying the glue to your unmarked sides.

Do this with the rest of your panels.

Step 7: Done!

Lay your completed panels side-by-side, and right side up, and cut slits near the edges for the cable ties. I placed the cable ties close to the bottom and top edges of the screen to keep the entire screen from flopping around. Use more ties for your larger screen. Your cable ties should be tied loosely to allow you to adjust the angle of the screens effortlessly.

Your very own cardboard Shoji Screen is now completed! I placed my Shoji screen in front of my fishtank to capture the light effect in the background. This project took me around 2 hours to complete.

I hope you enjoyed this Instructable, and I would appreciate any feedback and votes. Thanks!

Comments

[Bflydeb]

Would love to know where you got the large pieces of cardboard. Looking to make walls for a unfinished basement bedroom.

[Annie6900]

This was awesome ! Thank you for the simple to follow instructions! I have a wood frame for the screen that i am looking to replace the rice paper on, and this will work perfectly except no talent as far as painting the bamboo design even tho i love it, so i will have to either do solid white or find some fabric with cool Japanese design ! Thank you i looked all over internet and yours was the best instructions out there!! BTW your screen looks great and cant tell in photos it is cardboard!

[gargoyle030]

Came here looking for details on the paper used for a screen like this and really like the plans. I'm looking to do something "nicer" with some oak, but the cardboard version you've made is excellent and markedly less expensive. Add a little decorative duck tape to frame your windows and hide the zip ties and your screen looks even more amazing. Thanks for the great Instructable.

[gtrachel]

I made this! I needed a screen for a couple of days and wanted to spend $0 on it. When I saw this instructable, I knew it was just the trick. With the particular cardboard I had on hand, it made sense to do my two panels connected to each other, and then after all the gluing was done I scored one of them so that it bends, skipping the zip ties altogether. Some decorative duck tape may reinforce it later, but it works great and looks satisfactory. Thanks for the clever idea!

[June CeasarS]

putang ina ang panget naman neto tang ina ka magbate ka na lang ulul

[mommywoman]

I really like this a lot. Making it yourself gives you the ability to customize it the way you want it to look vs buying one that looks like everyone elses. Someone suggested you could paint the wrong (ugly) side. I don't know if it makes a difference but you can buy paint specifically for cardboard but I don't know what other colors it comes in beside brown. Regular paint might bubble or wrinkle the top layer of the cardboard unless maybe if you could use it as your base coat/primer. I knew it was bamboo before you ever said it was. I'm definitely going to make this. Great job!

[nfire]

Looks wonderful! So it's easy to add on a third piece? How do you attach the cable ties?

[mynewestproject]

Pls don't apologize for your 'bamboo drawing'...I think it looks absolutely fantastic! Your idea is amazing too, I'm definitely going to attempt my own shoji screen
:)

[WriterChick]

This has just made it into my "To-Do" bookmarks folder. Wonderful 'ible, and thank you!

[sunshiine]

this is beautiful! Thanks for sharing your hard work and great talent!

[anishi]

I've been thinking of doing this for forever! i have sparkly tissue (the kind for gifts not the achoo kind) this will really help! domo arigato gozaimasu

[jakyo]

Great indestructable .You rock.must try this ***** Oh, love your artwork **

[Callum Snowden]

Lot cheaper than doing it with trellis for the size I want :)

[saturdayseller]

Just arrived on this site and this project is one to keep me here! I loved these screens but could not bring myself to pay the price! It is lovely! And by the way, I knew it was bamboo! Thank you for your contribution to this awesome site!

[Tezcumpapa]

You could string some white Christmas lights on the backside for some backlighting.

[ChrysN]

This is really nice! The bamboo looks great, what do you mean you are no artist.

[tonictina]

Thank you!

[dblake862]

Great info! I like how your screen rooms Florida looks!

[h3idi]

Refrigerator boxes are EASY to get, just call an appliance store, and ask them if you can get one. I painted one white, with a roller. Easy, awesome, and just used free white latex paint - which you can likely find on some craigslist type site. Dollar store rollers.

[reedbabe]

You could spray paint the cardboard a shiny black before you assemble and no one would be able to tell it was cardboard.