Thai Temple Rubbings Paper

The Paper for Temple Rubbings

When the monks at Wat Po,Temple of the Reclining Buddha, first started producing these stone rubbings, they used tissue paper.  They were very fragile and could be easily torn or damaged.  They eventually started using rice paper as it was stronger.  Most people selling these stone rubbings state that they are done on rice paper, when in fact they are not.  The rice paper was not as easily broken as the tissue paper, but it was still very susceptible to other types of damage, mostly due to climate/humidity conditions.  Once these stone rubbings became more “commercialized”, the technique was switched to mulberry paper.  This was an easy switch as Thailand is famous for mulberry trees and was already a high producer of mulberry paper.  The paper that is used in the temple rubbings we sell at our store is all hand-made mulberry paper that comes from the North of Thailand close to Chiang Mai.

This mulberry paper from Chiang Mai,Thailand is heavier than what you may have seen before.  Being hand made, the thickness and texture does vary but is of a very high quality and stands up very well as used for these Thai Temple Rubbings.

Because of the thickness, texture, and quality of Chiang Mai mulberry paper, these temple rubbings can be displayed in different ways.  The rubbings can simply be put on the wall “as-is”, they can be matted/framed and hung on your wall, or because of the semi-transparency of the paper, they can be mounted on glass with a light source in back showing every detail of the piece of art.  In the image, we have placed a dollar bill under the mulberry paper to show the qualities of the paper to be used with a lighted background.

No mater what method you use to display these temple rubbings, they will be a very welcomed addition to any room and will certainly spark conversation with guests.  This is where you can show off your knowledge of the Thai story of Ramakien!
JJSmith