Florist's wrapping paper (3)

Another piece of decorated paper. The author recalls it was used by florists to wrap flowers. This particular pattern seems to be a bric-a-brac of several other patterns.

Book Cover-- Guandi Mingshen zhenjing 關帝明聖真經

 Below is the cover of the Guandi Mingshen zhenjing 關帝明聖真經-- Lord Guan's true scripture. This book was found in 2018 in Singapore. There, it is a custom for religious books to be freely distributed to the Public. To that end, shelves are placed in public areas, for such books to be placed. The book below is one such example. 

The book is bound in the Traditional Chinese manner, with thread, and the delightful wrapping-paper cover glued to the spine to form a wrapper. The book's creator has written the title 關帝明聖真經--Lord Guan's true scripture in a neat hand. In a smaller hand, to the botton left of the book is written 贈送品--  For Free distribution. 

The book is attributed to Lord Guan. 關羽 Guan Yu , The celebrated Chinese general. He is depicted to the right in a frontispiece. These illustrations were probably taken from a printed book. 

The first page of the text

Now we come to the most astonishing feature of the book. The text of the book is a photocopy of a Manuscript. By contrast, most books distributed in such a manner are typeset, and printed by large printing-houses. The production of this book must certainty be a small, cottage operation, reflecting the devotion of its creator. 

The second and third text pages of the text

The faint black frame around the texts comes from the Chinese Foolscap paper, that the scribe used to write this book on. The consistency of the scribe's handwriting must be praised. 

In addition to the photocopied portions, one of the book's owners has added a section in manuscript, written in Blue ballpoint pen. These manuscript sections are presented above. They are short religious invocations

The author will, in a future post, upload scans of the entire book, in hope that its creator's singular act of devotion will be perpetuated, as well as to provide material for students of the Chinese Folk religion.

In the meanwhile, if any reader may provide a more precise description of the book's contents, the author will be most delight to receive it.

以上的文章是介紹一本手抄的《關帝明聖真經》。這本書是在新加坡發現到，如果有讀者有有關這本書的知識或資料，請通知筆者。 謝謝。

Wrapping paper

This piece of wrapping paper was collected in 2015. It displays a pattern of bees, butterflies, and flowers, arranged in stripes. Such rather garish designs are common in wrapping papers 

Floral paper

A New year, and finally a new post. Here is a fine floral wrapping-paper. For some reason the design incorporates deer. 

Florist's wrapping paper ( 2)

Yet another example of the genre of florist's wrapping paper. Printed on a thin, but glossy paper like the rest, this particular example shows a subtle pattern in black and blue.  The dark colors would form a pleasing contrast to the brilliant bouquets that these papers are intended to protect. 

Florist's Wrapping paper

This specimen was found wrapping a bunch of flowers that were purchased in a Singaporean market.

 It is printed on a thin, glossy paper. It displays a pattern of (American) footballs, and the words "TOUCH DOWN". For whatever reason the phrase is printed in mirror image. 

Christmas wrapping paper (2)

This is yet another piece of wrapping paper with a Christmas theme. This is a simple pattern of reindeer, pine trees, and small dancing Santas, arranged into stripes. As you can see, it was taped into the form of a bag. This is a popular mode of wrapping presents.

Christmas wrapping paper (1)

This rather garish piece of wrapping paper has an obvious Christmas theme. Although it is fragmentary, one can easily make up the pattern of baubles and snowflakes.
  This pattern may very well have been cobbled together from an assemblage of stock art, overlaid over one another. It looks crude, and childish. But, as you can see, it has protected a present well. If that's the case, who are we to judge? 

Striped wrapping paper (2)

This is another example of the fine "minimalist" styles of wraping paper that have recently been popular. It is printed on a fine brown paper, in three colours. The colours are a dull brown, a dull blue, and a rather pleasing gold ink.

The overall effect is rather pleasing. The muted colours of the background form a pleasant contrast to the shimmering gold stripes. As you can see, this sheet of paper once wrapped a present. Its impatient recipient tore the wrapper to the state you see here. 

Striped wrapping paper

 

This rather simple design of wrapping paper Is typical of it's contemporaries. It is of recent make      (c. 2014).

 

 

The scanning process has lightened the colour of the central stripe. In reality, the colour is slightly deeper.

Wrapping paper

The following sheet of wrapping paper is somewhat of an oddity. It is printed on an extremely thin stock ( roughly 10 lb. paper), resembling a form of calendared tissue paper, a odd choice for a wrapping paper.

Another oddity is the design. The above example is the only example of wrapping paper that I have seen that does not depict something like flowers or puppies, but rather is an abstract design. It is hard to say what the maker was intending this paper to represent ( perhaps marble?), or if it was intended to resemble anything at all.

If anything can be said of this paper, it is printed. However, in the dark areas of the paper, we find a curious pattern:

How this pattern came to be I have no idea.