Fan Construction Part II

So as requested more detail on the feather fans I'm constructing, mostly just 'cause.

I needed bolts, washers and nuts, so a trip to the green shed was in order!

Huzzah for Bunnings!

So after a succesful trip to Bunnings (and quizzical looks form passersby as I sat on the floor inserting bolts into a stave I'd taken with me to see if they would fit) I came home and set myself up on my craft table (also known as a dining table... occaisionally).



Bits and bobs!

Firstly I bolted the prepared staves together, bolt, washer, stave, washer, stave, washer, etc.  Then I discovered this: 

Oh no!  The bolt!  She is too long!

Now the nut is a 'nylock' [insert dodgy power rangers reference here]  which means it will only screw down so far as it has a little bit of nylon in the thread to lock it off.
Still it didn't stop me taking photos;


Zoom out view (that's a six seater table BTW)

This is how far they'll eventually open, each fan will open 180 degrees, I haven't yet measured their width but they're fairly expansive.


Fabric for my costume, good match to my feathers!

I found this amazing sequin fabric in Cleggs on Elizabeth Street while I was in Melbourne last weekend.  It's a perfect match for the colour of the feathers!  And really sparkly to boot!

Then I started on the other fan, with the funnest part of all!  Peeling paper off the perspex staves...


Preparing staves for the other fan.

Next step, make fan 2! I sat at the table watching 'A Town called Eureka' and wired another 24 ostrich plumes to another 12 staves. Pliers, bits of wire and feather went everywhere, I tidied up before any evidence of the mess could be photographed! this however didn't stop little Miss Em getting fetaher on her nose.

After completing the next 12 staves I couldn't help myself, even with the too long bolts I had to bolt them together and flounce around the house with them!  Very glamourously in my polar fleece jacket and dirty dog slobber jeans...


So not finished but I couldn't wait...

 Voila! Left and right handed ostrich feather fans, still not finished but once I have bolts and beading nylon they will be!


A pair of fans (still not finished) but left and right handed!



I knew I would do it... eventually... Part 1

So I've been telling myself that I'll make my own ostrich feather fans, to this end I have had a pound of ostrich feathers and 50 plastic staves in my backroom for... a long time.  The box is very unwieldy and it takes up alot of space.

I'd been telling myself I needed to borrow someone else's fan before I go at this project bull at a gate as I didn't want to damage the feathers, after all I only have a pound of them.  I've been telling myself this for months and yesterday I thought 'what the hell there is a 'how to...' for just about everything on YouTube let's give it a go' and I found the video below from Frou Frou Feathers.

I thought, well, that doesn't seem so hard so I went home, dragged out my feathers and my toolbox and set to work.

My initial plan was to overlay peacock feathers on the ostrich feathers, this didn't go so well.  Peacock eyes are tail feathers, so they're straight.  My ostrich feathers are wing plumes so they're curved.  I'm sure you see the problem that emerged, the peacock eyes stuck out all all kind of odd angles, not good.  So I scrapped that plan and I'm now planning on overlaying the eyes on the base of the fan later with araldite.  Hopefully that is slightly more successful.

So now we move on to the spectacular mess of blue feathers my loungeroom/kitchen has become.  I did vacuum up the majority of the feathers, I also spent a fair chunk of time chasing my dog (who seemed to think as always that this project was entirely for her benefit) around the loungeroom as she stole feathers, staves, wire, scissors and anything else she clamp her teeth around!  However, finally I have 12 completed staves, one whole fan... in bits...

12 feathered fan staves, now to bind them together

Next step off to Bunnings for bolts and washers!