So over the summer I came across a Japanese Style Fan DIY. I was intrigued and decided to make one for myself. I changed the process a little bit for my personal aesthetics.
It was actually pretty easy to make. My biggest problem was the wooden sticks. In the tutorial I saw, they used craft sticks. I felt that those were too wide for my personal tastes. So I ended up cutting 1/4″ wide sticks from a larger piece of wood. I ain’t gonna lie, it was a pain to cut then sand them down. A better option would have been to use the long mixing flat sticks that you find in coffee places. You can order a bunch from Amazon.
I was thrilled to use my Thai marbled handmade paper. And I used it on both sides so there was no back and front side to this fan.
Check out the DIY below.
Supplies: 12 flat sticks 7″ x .25″, 18 gauge wire, handmade Thai marbled paper, Unryu paper, pencil, pair of scissors, wire scissors, ruler, contact cement, drill, yarn, drilling board, round nosed pliers.
First I measured 3/4 from one of the sticks end and placed a drilling point centered.
I drilled the first stick then used that first stick as a stencil to drill the rest of the sticks. I put two sticks underneath the first stick, lined them up exactly then drilled through the first hole to the two blank sticks underneath it. I continued to follow that process until all sticks had a hole in them.
Then I measured and cut the wire at 2.5 inches long.
Using the pliers, create a simple loop, making sure that the cut end is enclosed.
Insert the wire through all the sticks.
Cut the wire and create another loop that lies flat against the last stick.
Flair out the sticks to make any necessary adjustments to how tight the wire is .
Since I did not have a protractor, I created my own by wrapping some yarn near the writing end of the pencil then cut it off just a little more than 4 inches long.
I cut the Unryu paper about 15 inches by 7 inches. I found the mid point on the width of the paper. I stuck my DIY protractor at the midpoint then then drew my semi circle.
Not bad for a DI Y protractor. Go ahead and cut out the semi circle.
Take the sticks and fan them out on the paper as shown above. Once you are happy with the spread of the sticks, outline the placement of each stick with a pencil. Then remove the sticks from the paper and add a dab of glue on each stick as well as on each placement outline on the paper. Attach both pieces together. Of note, if you take a careful look in the photo above, you will notice I made a little boo boo in the spread of the sticks. I actually did not catch the problem until afterI had stuck all 3 layers of paper. Thank gosh the glue had not set yet for me to make the necessary adjustments
Moving on, cut off the white paper close to the top of the sticks and set aside.
Cut two pieces of the Thai paper about 16 inches by 8 inches. Find the middle and cut out the semi circle in the center of both pieces of paper.
Add glue to the wrong side of one of the Thai paper as well as to the Unryu paper. Adhere together.
Add glue to the other side of the fan as well as the back of the final Thai paper.
Line up the bottom curved edges and adhere together.
Allow to set then cut off any excess paper close to the ends of the sticks. If paying attention, you will see that in this photo and the remaining, I finally fixed that wrong spread that I mentioned a coupla steps back.
Fold accordion style. Press well to get a sharp fold.
All done!
I know that I am a little partial but what a beautiful fan.