Feather fans are a staple of any burlesque dancer’s wardrobe. Unfortunately, a pair of feather fans can cost over a hundred dollars depending on where you purchase them from. If you’re looking for a cost-effective alternative, this tutorial will show you how to make your own pair of feather fans.
Table of Contents
Materials
You will need the following materials for this project:
- Scissors
- Ruler
- Glue gun/sticks
- Marker
- Pair of 9x fan staves
- 32 colored ostrich feathers
- 54 colored marabou feathers
- 2x5x3x5 inch template
- Two A4 laminated clear sheets
- Six A4 double-sided sticky sheets
- Embroidery floss (same color as ostrich feathers)
Preparation
Before you begin, it is important to gather your supplies and make sure all your materials are ready to go. To start, cut 36 sections of sticky sheets. From the laminated clear sheets, cut 36 thin 1×2 inch and 35 1×3 inch strips.
Creation
Peel back one side on one sticky sheet. Making sure the feathers are completely covering one whole side of the sheet, stick three marabou feathers on the exposed sticky side. Repeat this for each sticky sheet.
Next, you want to carefully remove the back side from nine sticky sheets. Center each of these nine sheets on a section of a stave towards the top. Then, peel the backing off of another sheet of marabou feathers to adhere on the opposite side of the one you just placed. Repeat this for each section of one stave, and then repeat this whole process for the other stave.
For the middle seven stave sections, line both sides of each section with hot glue and stick an ostrich feather to each side. For the two on the end, only use one feather.
Arrange each fan so that one opens right, and the other opens left. Tie your embroidery floss around the hole on one end of the stave and thread it through until it passes through the hole of each stave. Then, tie it off at the other end. Hot glue each hole so that the staves open evenly and the spacing is even. Now, you have your own pair of burlesque fans!
