Angela Lansbury. Photo by Trevor Sharot.
For a fun photo, add a matching fan.
Pick a colour from a multi colour dress. Match the shoes to your accessory colour. I have added red lace gloves.
London has a fan museum. In Greenwick, South London.
Conference Fancy Dress Party Hire
At the Writers' Summer School in The Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick, Derbyshire, England, UK, we had a themed Twenties Fancy Dress evening. Several people hired outfits from a local party shop (Currently closed due to Covid-19 and operating online with a local delivery and collection service to the conference centre. At party shops and dress hire businesses you can buy or hire complete outfits including an accessory such as a headband, hat or fan and shoes.
DIY Fans
Fans come in two basic shapes. concertina or circle.
DIY Concertina Fans
If you have an old fan, which is bedraggled, you could take it apart to see how it is made. Then copy it. Or reconstruct it, repairing the damaged parts.
At a Chinese New Year and Mid Autumn Festival events included an outdoor dinner in open sided marquees around the swimming pool at a condo in Singapore, all the guests were provided with paper fans. The morning after the event, lots of torn paper fans lay on the ground.
One such event was before Covid-19 when I was not so cautious about touching anything which had been touched by anybody else's hands. The pink and purple paper for the fans had glittery gold edges. I thought, that is lovely paper which can be used for greeting cards.
However, after cutting off the torn parts, I found to my delight that I has sufficient paper so I could construct a smaller fan. Alternatively, I could stick the paper from two fans together with a vertical join to make a new fan.
The classic concertina fan has reinforcements like a lollipop stick on the two short outside edges. The lower third is fixed at the base or a third of the way up. If you were in a hot room without air conditioning you could take any piece of paper such as a spare program/agenda sheet and fold it, or an unwanted large envelope and concertina it. You could use a piece of white A4 paper and draw on it. Or print it in colour to match your outfit. Fasten the fan at the base.
Cutting Semi-circles
Cutting semi-circles is easier yet harder than you think. Look around for something circular. A plate or cup and saucer. An egg cup or wine glass base for the fan shape for a child's small dolly. A fan with advertising to be in a shop window. A fan with a child's name to be held by a toy doll or teddy as a Christmas gift.
A strip of lace or braid can be used on the upright. A fan can also be framed as decoration for a bedroom. It is also amusing for a costume party or fancy dress party or a birthday or anniversary or school or holiday reunion on a them. Fans were the thing in the Roaring Twenties (1920s).
The finest fans are made from lace or delicate fabrics, and decorated with braid. If you have a spare piece of lace or find fabric, or the offcut from a dress you have shortened, or a fabric belt, or a ribbon of lace, think how you could use it on a fan. If it is too fine for the main fan material, it might be used in the circle or straight edge across the top.
Circular Fans
Circular fans are often given away as promotion, by travel companies. Or destinations. You find them at travel fairs. They consist of a circle of stiff paper.
I have used a fan as an accessory for a speech, or stand up comedy turn. I write my notes or prompts on the back of the fan.
If you find fans fascinating, visit the Fan Museum in Greenwich, south east London. I went there and had allowed an hour. But they have 5,000 fans. Not all on display. The staff were chatty and helpful when I was there and Tripadvisor confirms this has been the case for other visitors. One helped a birthday party there. Visitors speak highly of the tea in the orangery tea room. You could also visit the Maritime Museum nearby. For a quick lunch I recommend the steak sandwich at the Lodge in Putney. (See my previous post.)
Novelties in the Fan Museum include a fan with a built in earpiece and another with a built in repair kit. Whatever next!
Next is a look at Fan museums and fans worldwide. One or two in the UK in major tourist destinations such as London's British Museum, and Waddesdon Manor, a day trip which I took recently.
USA Fan Museum
Over in the USA there is a fan museum in California. At the Healdsburg Hotel complex. They display a huge number. They have 2,500 fans.
Healdsburg has a Marriott hotel in the Sonoma wine country. If you want to make a special trip to the area.
Further fans pop up in museums all over North America.
If you are looking online, to avoid links to electric ceiling fans, use the words hand fans.
Useful Websites
DIY FANUK Fan museum site:
USA Fan Museum, Healdsburg Hotel complex, California
https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/stsri-hotel-trio-healdsburg
Worldwide Fan Museums Collections (USA list)
Please like, follow, or share links to your favourite posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment