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Rice Products

Rice Paper What is Rice Paper? Do you have trouble finding the paper you need when you search the term

“rice paper” online?

This is because the term has multiple origins for various types of paper, all of which have different uses. Here are four completely different types of paper, each with a different use but all referred to as rice paper.

• Paper Made from the Rice Paper Plant: No, there is no such thing as rice paper. A type of paper made from the Tetrapanax Papyrifer plant was imported to Europe from Asia around the turn of the twentieth century. Because of its Asian origins and bright white color, this paper was commonly, but incorrectly, referred to as “rice paper.” This paper is commonly used in the creation of artificial flowers, as a shoe sole, and for painting. However, it is rarely used for writing.
• Edible Paper: Edible, thin, starchy paper is used to wrap Vietnamese finger foods in the food industry. This food wrapping paper is also known as rice paper or nir wrappers. Although rice starch can be used to make this paper, other ingredients such as tapioca starch, milk, and bananas can be added for flavor and texture.
• Wrapping Rice: There is a paper made from the bark of the Mulberry Tree that is used to wrap rice bundles for transportation in Asia. Even though it is an industrial mulberry paper, you can see how this paper is commonly referred to as rice paper.
• Rice Paper for Art, Architecture, and Writing: Papers from Asian countries are frequently labeled as Rice Paper. Paper can come from a variety of countries and is frequently made with a variety of pulp and fiber ingredients. Different varieties of the mulberry tree are the most common source of pulp for rice papers. Because of their widespread distribution in the country of origin, other plants, such as the Lokta bush, are also used.

There are several types of rice paper that you may find useful if you are looking for rice paper for art, lampshades, shoji screens, or other creative applications.

The following are some of the different types of paper that are commonly referred to as rice paper:

• Thailand’s Mulberry Paper: The Thais have perfected the mass production of mulberry paper. After meticulously preparing the bark strands, artisans handcraft mulberry paper in a variety of sizes and weights. Unryu Paper is soft and translucent, whereas Heavyweight Mulberry Paper is stiff and textured.
• Washi Paper: Washi paper is a highly refined mulberry paper from Japan. Japanese artisans have elevated mulberry paper to the status of fine art. One branch of Japanese papermaking focuses on crafting mulberry, mitsumata, and gampi papers to the such high quality that they can be used in book and document conservation efforts. When used to repair books, the conservation papers are defect-free and so thin that they are virtually transparent. Mulberry paper is used in another branch of Japanese papermaking to display intricate, artistic designs. Beautiful and colorful designs can be found on Chiyogami or Yuzen paper. Each color of the design is hand-silkscreened onto the sheet with care. The depth of color is amazing after 8 or 9 applications of silkscreening.
• Shoji Paper from Japan: Another popular application for rice paper is in architecture. It can be found in Japanese Shoji screens as well as translucent lamp shades. Shoji paper is a thin, semi-translucent mulberry paper that is typically left unbleached or bleached white. It is wetted and placed in screen frames. The paper shrinks as it dries. The paper becomes smooth and tight when held tightly in the screen frame.
• Hanji Paper from Korea: Hanji Paper is a type of rice paper from Korea. Hanji paper has traditionally been used for legal and important documents that must be kept for a long time. Hanji paper achieves this level of durability by incorporating Hibiscus’s mention into the paper pulp. The monitor adds strength to the fibers, preventing them from breaking down over time. The pulp mixture is also acid-free, making Hanji Paper an excellent archival paper.
• Nepalese Lokta Paper: The Lokta bush is more common in Nepal than the Mulberry tree. In Thailand, Japan, and Korea, the bark of the Lokta bush is used to make paper pulp in the same way that mulberry is. Nepalese artisans have become well-known for not only producing paper but also transforming it into useful paper products and decorations such as bags and rosettes. Lokta paper, like its cousins, is frequently mislabeled as “rice paper.
• China’s Xuan Paper: Finally, rice paper made in China is known as Xuan Paper. It was made originally from the bark of the Pteroceltis Tatarinowii tree (a relative of the Elm tree). Other pulps, such as mulberry, bamboo, and rice, have found their way into the Chinese papermaking industry over time.