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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.