Hello! Today I would like to share a paper fan that I made, inspired by my friend Nancy Maxwell James of Sugar Lumps Studios. I saw a Vintage Paper Fan that Nancy had made and asked her about it.
Free fan blade template
Nancy was kind enough to share this free fan blade template and said that I could share it with you, too. She said that she prefers to use at least 6 fan blades from this template. I prefer an odd number, so there is one in the center, so I decided to use 7 blades.
Jane Girls Stencils by Jane Davenport
I was also inspired to make this fan by the new Jane Girls Stencils designed by Jane Davenport for Artistcellar.com. One of the designs is a woman’s face in the style of a comic book or graphic novel. It inspired me to pick a theme of “be fearless” for my project.
Video mini-class (22:24): make a paper fan
In the following video, I share how I made my Be Fearless Paper Fan.
The video has many tips and hints, including information about:
- Using Distress Inks to get tone-on-tone looks
- Reasons why Ranger Archival Ink is one of my all-time favorites
- Cleaning Ranger Archival Ink off of stamps
- Using contrast to draw attention to facial features
- Aligning your stencil for multiple applications, such as on fan blades
- Using India Ink from the Stamper’s Big Brush with Distress Inks or Distress Stains
- Cleaning India Ink from the Stamper’s Big Brush off of a stencil
- Doodling a “broken chain” style faux stitch
Here is a close-up of the project, so you can see some of the details of the many layers that I used in this project.
Supplies
- Jane Girls Series stencils designed by Jane Davenport for Artistcellar.com
- Distress Inks such as Picked Raspberry which is part of the Summer Limited Edition set
- Faber-Castell / Design Memory Craft Stamper’s Big Brush in white
- Faber-Castell / Design Memory Craft Pitt Pens
- Stamps: Penny Black 2025M Music Background; and Hero Arts S5317 Starburst Lace, G3316 Harlequin Pattern, and H5261 Flourish Trio
- We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-Dile
- paper piercer
- watercolor paper
What does being fearless mean to you?
One of my friends asked me whether I was nervous about hand writing “be fearless” on the fan blades. And I said, “That’s the whole point! Be fearless! Don’t be afraid to write on your fan blades or to add layers.” You can always make extra blades if you want to – and it’s only paper! No worries!
I’d love to hear what being fearless means to you!
And thanks for stopping by!
