HOW TO MAKE A FAN.
“That graceful toy whose moving play
With gentle gales relieves the sultry day.”
A FAN is only a pretty trifle, yet it has been made rather an important
one. To manage a fan gracefully was some time ago considered very
essential by fair dames of society, and in the dainty hand of many
a famous beauty it has played a conspicuous part. Queen Elizabeth
regarded it with so much favor that she was called the “Patron of
Fans,” and she made a rule that no present save a fan should be
accepted by English queens from their subjects.
Although held in such high esteem, it is only since the influx of any
and every thing Japanese that we have had fans in such profusion,
and have discovered how effective they are when used for decorative
purposes.
A brilliantly tinted fan is of equal value in giving just the right
touch of color to a costume or the decorations of a room, and this
chapter will show how the girls can make the fans themselves, and
have for use or for the adornment of their rooms those of various
shapes, sizes, and colors. The first fan represented here is made in
the form of a butterfly. The principal articles necessary for its
manufacture are a strip of smooth, brown wrapping-paper, stiff enough
to keep its folds, and two sticks for handles. The ribbon which, in
the illustration, ties the handles together looks pretty, but is not
indispensable; an elastic band, or one made of narrow ribbon, slipped
over the sticks will do as well.
[Illustration: Butterfly Fan.]
The paper must be twenty-eight inches long and five and one-half inches
wide. In order to fold it evenly it should be ruled across with lines
one-half inch apart, as shown in diagram of butterfly (page 179). When
the paper is prepared the pattern can be copied from the diagram,
which is half of the butterfly. By counting the lines and using them
as guides for obtaining the proportions, an exact reproduction of
this pattern can be made. The outlines being drawn, the paper must be
plaited, one fold on top of another, until twenty-seven plaits have
been laid. Smoothing out the paper again, the butterfly should be
painted with water-colors in flat, even tints.
[Illustration: Diagram of one-half of Butterfly Fan.]
The lower part of diagram is the body of the insect and is of a
light-brown color, also the space just below the head, which is
surrounded by a strip of black.
[Illustration:
Fig. 123. Fig. 125.
Folded Fans.]
[Illustration: Handle.]
The head and eyes are black, the eyes having a half-circle of white
to separate them from the head. The main part of the wings are a
brownish purple, next to which comes a border of very dark purple with
light-blue spots. The outer border is light yellow. When the paint
is quite dry the extra paper at the top of the butterfly is to be
cut away. Again the fan must be plaited in the folds already formed,
and the plaits fastened together at one end with a strong needle and
thread, as shown in diagram (Fig. 123). Fig. 124 shows the shape of the
handles, two of which are required; they should be about nine inches
long, one-third of an inch wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. A
handle must be glued to the last fold at each end of the fan (see Fig.
125). The fan should be kept closed until the glue is dry, when it may
be opened and used at pleasure.
[Illustration: The Mikado Fan.]
Our next sketch is that of the Mikado fan, and represents a Japanese
lady who, with her fan held aloft, is making a bowing salutation.
This fan is made of the same paper as that used for the butterfly, and
is cut the same width; there are, however, twenty-nine plaits instead
of twenty-seven, as in the other. The diagram gives the pattern in two
parts, and the colors it is to be painted; the face and hands should
be of a flesh-tint and the features done with black in outline. The
directions for putting together the butterfly apply as well to the
Mikado fan.
[Illustration: Pattern of Mikado Fan.]
The third illustration shows a fan made in the shape of a daisy.
Diagram on page 183 shows a section of the pattern.
White paper should be used, and it must be laid in thirty-four plaits,
which will give the flower fifteen whole and two half petals, the half
petals being at each end.
The tinted part of pattern indicates where it is painted yellow to form
the centre of the daisy.
For a plain round fan no pattern is needed. It is made simply of a
strip of paper, of the width used for the other fans, and has about
thirty plaits. When fans of this kind are made of colored paper in
solid tints they are very pretty. Pieces of bright, figured wall-paper
left from papering a room can be utilized, and quite effective fans be
made of them to use for decoration.
[Illustration: Daisy Fan.]
Another style of fan is represented in our last illustration. It is
made of twenty slats of cardboard cut after pattern Fig. 126. These
slats are joined together at the top and centre with narrow ribbon
passed through the slits cut for it, as shown in Fig. 127. Over the
ribbon where it passes through the top slits, on the wrong side of the
fan, square pieces of paper are pasted, which hold the ribbon down
securely at these points. The paper is pasted only at each end of the
ribbon in the middle row. It is best to leave one end of this ribbon
loose until the fan is joined at the bottom; then opening the fan, and
drawing the ribbon until it fits the fan smoothly, it can be cut the
right length and the loose end fastened down. A ribbon is also used to
hold the slats together at the bottom; a bow at each side keeps them
in place (see Fig. 128). When a large fan for decoration is desired,
the slats should be about eighteen inches long, two and a half inches
wide at the top, and one and a half inch wide at the bottom. The fan
may be larger still, in which case it can be used as a screen to set
before an empty fire-place. For this purpose the slats have to be two
feet long, four inches wide at the top, and two and a half inches wide
at the bottom.
[Illustration: Pattern for Daisy Fan.]
The proportions of the slats for a small hand-fan are eight and a half
inches long, one and a half inch wide at the top, and one inch wide
at the bottom. The large fans should be made of heavier cardboard or
pasteboard than that used for smaller ones.
[Illustration: Construction of Cardboard Fan.]
Colored cardboard, which can be bought at almost any stationer’s, is
the best to use, but the slats of ordinary white cardboard may be
covered with colored paper if more convenient.
These fans may be varied to suit the taste of the girls who make them.
Instead of a solid color, one can be made with alternate slats of red
and white, blue and yellow, or any other colors that harmonize. Another
may show all the tints of the rainbow, and for use on the Fourth of
July one might display the red, white, and blue.
[Illustration: Cardboard Fan.]
Some will look especially handsome if prettily painted. A dark-red fan
with a branch of dogwood-blossoms painted across it makes a charming
wall decoration, as does also one of light blue with pine-branch and
cone painted in brown or black.
A gilt fan lightens up a dusky corner beautifully; it can be curved
around to fit the place, and catching and reflecting the light at all
angles, as it does, it is quite effective.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: AUTUMN.]
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