IRCC 4d? Anyway, It's another accessory! (or part of one)

You know how it is.

I finished my fan and spent a couple of days glorying in my accomplishment...and then I started thinking that now that I have a feather fan with a hanging ring I need a girdle to hang it from. So I go to the hardware store and buy a package of a nice, slightly ornamental, gold colored chain and I'm thinking "OK. I got the chain. Now I go home, measure out the correct length, bend some hooks, throw it together and hit it with Rub n' Buff so it kinda matches the fan. Done!"

Of course, that's not how it's working out. :)

Once I had the chain home, and the fan attached, it just started seeming...skimpy. It is nice chain, and the correct scale but it needed more ornamentation to complement the fan. I was pondering the possibilities of wired on filigree pieces, or pearls. Then it occurred to me that the leftover acorns from my hairpin project were a good size for putting in the spaces between the links and a few minutes later my new girdle was begun! I'm suspending the acorns between two links so they fall in the middle of the alternate link and I like the look and feel a lot but the whole project is on hold overnight because I need more jump rings.

In the morning I'll be off to the store and I'm hoping to return with more of the acorns and jump rings plus thread to match the sottana which I am finally working on. (Surprise!)

The original chain, disassembled, and reassembled

Why I love e-bay #327

This!



Now all it needs is a reticella edging and it will be the perfect hankie.

IRCC3 Layer 4b Update: The Orsi fan is finished!

After the gold paint dried I discovered that while it was wonderfully shiny it was that horrible green-gold color that I loathe in metallic spray paint. Luckily, I had provided myself with an alternative, Rub n' Buff!

I had never used it before, but after years of watching it transform items on HGTV I just had to give it a try. I love it! It warmed the color right up, smoothed out minor imperfections in the surface and makes a lovely texture to hold.

The next step was steam curling my Ostrich plumes and the three smaller single feathers I got for the front side of the fan. I only did the upper 1/4 of the larger feathers but I curled the entire length of the front feathers. then I stuck the feathers in their slots and stuck in some shredded toilet paper between the feathers to hold them in place while still making it easy to remove and replace the feathers if needed.

Done!

IRCC3, 4b - pre assembly prep work on the fan

I've realized that I neglected to chronicle and photo document the most important part of the fan--most important from a structural perspective, at least--the top opening and double pockets where the feathers will be inserted!

As you may remember, I made a cardboard spacer which I tied to the central upright oval of craft wood I had attached to the wood candleholder which forms the base of my fan handle. I then built up an outer layer of plastic wood which I have since used as the base for my paperclay top coat. I removed the cardboard spacer a while ago and have been carefully preserving the opening as I completed the adjoining sculptural elements.


Side view of the fan featuring the dragon's head




And the top opening.






I am planning to make my feathers white on the front and black on the back and it seemed to me that support between the layers would be a good thing--thus the double pockets. I assembled the main feathers by stitching the spines together in pairs (the thread wraps around the front of the rib and then loops around itself and is carried up the back of the feather to the next stitch, rather like tying a roast) using the instructions in Lynn McMaster's article, How to Create Ostrich Plumes. I plan to curl the feathers too and then assembly is next!


Tonight I painted the fan gold. After it is fully dry I'll decide if that is enough or if it needs additional painting but here is a peek.

IRCC3 Layer 4b-Fan handle sculpting is complete!

I added the final flourishes to the dragon-leafy things that stick out at the sides of my fan and managed some passable leaf shapes on the lower handle which left me with only the uncharted territory of the back to address. Orsi's design doesn't include a reverse image so I set out to look for something suitable...without much luck until I had the happy thought of looking at Orsi's's other work and found this frieze with a suitable cartouche

Ornamental Frieze

Lelio Orsi (called Lelio da Novellara)  (Italian, Novellara 1508/11–1587 Novellara)

Some day I'll actually have a registered device which I will paint onto it!

Back

Front


Hopefully I'll move on to painting tomorrow.

IRCC 4b- More pretty pictures of the fan in progress

One interesting thing about the paperclay is that it doesn't particularly want to stick to the dry version of itself. I was using it more like plasticine--adding it in layers and attempting to work to a level of perfect detail--but paperclay seems to respond better to a freer approach. I've been wetting down the dry surfaces to make them more receptive to additions and now I'm trying to work on larger areas in one go.

I notice that the pieces have a lot more life and it feels great to be getting things moving!

IRCC3 Layer 4c - Veil finis!

Or, rather; Il mio velo è finito!

I am saving the final 'as worn' photos for the unveiling of our finished projects ('Unveiling!' Get it?) but here is my new veil in bits and pieces.

The shape:

I've been pondering the shapes of veils in the Spanish tailors book, and the intriguing veil ends which continue up over the chest to tie behind the neck in some illustrations, and the basic 'no waste' thought process which underlies rectangular construction methods...smooshed all together. I took my rectangle of veil cloth and folded it in half--head to foot--and then found the midpoint on each side. I cut a swoopy s-curve shape from the center back fold line to the mid-point, pivoted and attached the pieces to the main body and created a HUGE sorta semi-circular veil with long tails.




I hemmed the edges with repeated passes of zigzag stitch and folding (taking advantage of the opportunity to straigten the edges as I went along)





and then braided the dangling threads at the tips. I think the braid puts the excess thread to good use, extending the length of the ties and making a cord that will be very easy to tie behind my neck.




In the end I am hoping for a semi-circular version of this




As a final little trick, I adapted a ruff-making tip I learned from Noel Gieleghem's excellent ruff-making directions and stitched a small marker at the center point of the leading edge of my veil. It's not really noticeable but I can feel it when I run the edge of my veil through my fingers and I'm sure it will help me keep it centered when I'm pinning it into my hair.