Fans and feathers and bits together

It's been a busy and bumpy ride on the real-life stuff since my last post which interrupted my flow of blogging here.

Here is a small working scan of the status on the spine and casing for the fan project, the conceptual post of which appears earlier on in this blog site. Working out what and how I was going to approach the construction of this took some time to work-out to my satisfaction. I've opted for a base of lighter weight card to which I've glued a series of similar sized peacock feathers, back-to-back in order to create a reversible edging to the fan. This spine is slightly smaller that the outer cardboard sides which form the shape of the fan and will give it strength. They shall in addition be the main supports for the silk to be stretched over once the embellishment of the fabric is completed.

In the scan the "spine" with the feathers is hidden by the top outer cardboard shape. The pale gold silk with the tacking stitches and the indicated smaller stitches that match the fabric and the cardboard shape is placed on the top.

The motif that will decorate the front and back sides of the fan are under consideration at the moment. (I'm concerned that overall the impression of the textile decorations on the fan together with extras such as the patkas, dhoti fabrics and so on will prove too strong and visually overwhelming.) I am keeping the early 13thC/14thC motif but am simplifying the colour choices towards a slightly more harmonious combination. I am also giving some thought to filling the immediate rim next to what will be the silk covered edge with smaller, manicured peacock feathers and filling up the inherent gaps caused by the shapes between the glued down feathers.