IRCC 3 - 4b: The great fan adventure continues...

After roughing in the carving for the handle I cut a groove across the top plate of my handle base and inserted a craft wood oval to provide support for the feathers of my fan and also the fantastic animals which project to the sides.



Since I couldn't find my coping saw, or any of my other, more suitable, saws. I made the grove by working at it a whole lot with a combination of the tools I could find, a drywall saw, chisel and my wonderful hand drills. Really, the proper tools would have made this stage a whole lot easier but, as you can see, it worked!



I glued the craft wood oval into place with ordinary white glue and let it dry overnight.



Then I sized Orsi's original design to the appropriate scale and printed it out so that I would have a reference for the next stage-modeling the figures!

I should probably mention that I have been very tempted to just finish the fan handle at this stage. It is very comfortable to hold and has a lovely shape. All that is needed is some smoothing, sanding, and a cover for the place where the brass ring joins the wood and it would be ready to paint. But it wouldn't be Orsi's fan. :) Thus, I persevere.

Although I cannot find it at present, another period artwork inspired me to try making a feather fan in which one side is white feathers, the other black, and you see the reverse color where the feathers curl over at the tips. Since I've given my handle a central support structure I need to create spaces between that central piece and the outer cover in which to insert my feathers.



I stacked up cut up pieces of a cardboard box and sections of the cardboard core of a paper towel roll until they seemed thick enough and then wrapped them in plastic wrap in the hope that the plastic wood won't adhere.



I tied the assembled spacer to my framing with thread. I hope it will be easy to cut free when the time comes.

Next up: Plastic wood! I started applying the plastic wood at the acorn knob at the bottom of my fan and discovered that it doesn't really mold and model in the way I remember. It is too soft at the start, and cracks and flakes off as it dries as I'm working it. Furthermore, it doesn't really want to adhere to the existing framework. It seems to respond best to repeated tapping and thinner layers so I am going to try roughing in the sculpted shapes I need and adding in depth and detail in layers.

Here is my first pass at side one.



It doesn't look like much right now, but I think it has potential.

Feverish! The IHC deadline is over...results?...

I've been nearly exploding with desire to see what everyone has wrought for the Idle Hands Challenge. In fact, the pressure has gotten so bad that I decided I have to at least post about what *I* did or I may well POP! So...

Fan #1 - Feather

FRONT

BACK

I already blogged about most of the process I used to create this fan so I'll just say that I'm proud of the techinical parts of this fan.

The wooden base I assembled is very stable and provides a lot of strength/support to the feathers. Drilling holes thru the base and sewing the feathers into place worked well as a temporary hold while I glued everything into position and waited for the glue to dry. It also let me make corrections before I glued it all up. (NOTE TO SELF: Ostrich feathers go on--front and back--FIRST!) Finally, I used two layers of ostrich feathers, one on both the front and back of the fan base, and found they completely obscured the wooden base which made it easy to decoratively finish the fan without worrying about hiding the inner workings.

I made my fan to approximate the narrower shape which is often seen in paintings but rarely found 'in life.' It moves air well, and seems to me to be much easier to carry and use than a rounder fan. I'll be interested to see how I feel about it after an event.

In my next fan I'm going to work harder at getting a proper curl on all of the feathers. I did curl them all but they seem to lose body and curl to the side. I'd like to try splitting two feathers--keeping the barbs on one half of each--and attaching them together to make each plume. I think that may get a better result when replicating the distinct, full plumes of the feathers in many period portraits.

Fan #2 - Lacis Flag Fan

FULL

DETAIL

I made that. :) !!!!

It was very interesting to me to note how the fan gradually became more useful as the net was embroidered. Net on it's own was absolutely useless as a fan but as the lacis pattern was filled in it became more and more effective. The bottom line is, it works great!

I've already started the netting for a second fan. This time I'll carve the chanels for the wire entirely seperately from any decorative carving on the stick. I also hope to do more carving on this one...and maybe even some painting and/or gilding...

Yeah, I thnk I have a thing for fans.

Idle Hands Challenge - Complete!

Or at least it is for me. :)

We're off to pick up more of our stuff in NY so I've wrapped up my first two fan projects and sent my final report off to Bella. I suspect she may be holding them until the Challenge is over so I'm still not posting pictures...or even details...but it's nice to know I can actually finish a Realm of Venus Challenge!

And I'm really happy with the fans I have made.

Of course I am also happy with the 2 other fans I have started, the 3 I am musing about, and the muff I have started the planning process for...I've even been thinking about handkerchiefs!

I really like focusing on one aspect of costume at a time. Or maybe I just really like accessories...

Whatever.

Good luck to all you other IHChallengees. I can hardly wait to see your pretties!

Tasty nibble #17 -Idle Hands Flag Fan in progress

I decided to make a third attempt at making the netting base for my fan and it turned out considerably more evenly than the previous version. I stretched it out in a frame I jury-rigged from some wire and stitched up the lacis pattern.

Woo hoo! It's my first piece and I think it came out just lovely.

To convert the Lacis piece onto a fan I've made a 4" x7" (finished dimensions) frame of wire and covered it with the same thread I used for the lace. I basically covered the frame with buttonhole stitching with the ridge of the loops running on the outside of the frame and then stitched a second set of buttonhole stitches around the frame between the stitches of the first set, this time with the loops running on the inside of the frame.


I used a very simple faggoting stitch to attach the lace to the inner edge of the covered frame--see all the pretty little holes? I am currently working a pointed lace edging around the outer edge of the frame.

The next phase will be to prepare my stick and attach the fan!

Tasty Nibble #16 - Idle Hands Feather fan - WIP

There's still another layer of feathers to come!

As usual, I'm also posting construction details on the "What Holds Breasts Up?" page.

Now I'm remembering what's so hard about moving...

Getting settled in enough to find all my stuff and get back to work!

I finally started unpacking my SCA boxes today. Found the red silk I may use for my IRCC overdress and a lot of clothes in need of a post-pennsic washing. Sigh. We're renting an apartment for our first year in Indiana and the new place doesn't have a washer/dryer in the unit. Bigger sigh. I've unpacked 4 *huge* tubs of SCA stuff but have yet to find my red brocade which I will probably use for the IRCC overdress. I don't want the silk to win out by default so I'll perserve with the unpacking but I looked at the Realm of Venus today and discovered Bella is sponsering a Mini Challenge (only a month long) focusing on items held in the hand. Hmmmm....

I'd been planning on making a second fan any way so this may be just the thing to get me back to work...

Since I'm going to think of this fan as another piece of the IRCC outfit I'll probably use the 'What Hold's Breasts Up?' page to chronicle my progress...fingers crossed this gets me jumpstarted!