That was surprisingly easy

And there is the pear.  I'm afraid I didn't get crazy and carve a wood block and print it.  Just a pencil sketch I inked in and a bit of color.  Lace is leftover from my ruffs and the ribbon is the vintage silk one I'm using on the dress.  I had bigger more exciting plans for this, but then the boys shredded my painted filigree fan I made for the ACC earlier this week and I decided I didn't want to give them something I poured blood and sweat into to destroy.  As I posted last time, these were often sort of a disposable thing on occasion as opposed to the investment of a feather fan.

What I'm pretty thrilled by and want to brag about is my clever handle.  It is a cafe curtain rod I bought for under $3.  They slide into two pieces and each end has a finial.  There is also a slit where the metal is rolled.  I took out the bottom section of the rod and kept it for a second fan.  This one has a little ridge on the bottom of the rod that sort of finishes it off, but I will need to figure out something to finish the second one.  I could have just epoxied the second part of the rod into place and had finials on both ends, but I didn't want the weight.  I drew and painted my pear and poem on a thick piece of watercolor paper, glued on the lace, and then pulled off the finial and pried the opening of the curled metal open a bit and slid it into place.  Then I popped the finial back on, crimped the metal back closed with a pair of pliers, and ta-da. Instant and inexpensive handle.  At under $3 is was cheaper than a dowel and a couple of wood finials and I didn't have to paint it.  And this way, when my boys inevitably destroy it, I have an extra handle waiting and plenty of paper to draw something else.  You just have to love a project where the research and decision of what to do take three times as long as the execution.

A fan full of poetry

For whereas the fanne consisteth of a painted peece of paper and a little wooden handle; the paper which is fastened into the top is on both sides most curiously adorned with excellent pictures, either of amorous things tending to dalliance, having some witty Italian verses or fine emblemes written under them; or of some notable Italian city with a briefe description thereof added thereunto. These fannes are of a meane price. -Thomas Coryat: Coryat's Crudities (Observations of Cremona)


For my ventuolo (flag fan) I wanted to do something a bit different and a bit playful. I thought Aurora's idea last year to do hers with the lyrics to a song on the back was a really fun idea. I also was intrigued by Katerina's page with the pictures of rebus puzzles on fans from At Home in Renaissance Italy. I considered painting my heraldry or writing a sonnet, but they seemed too straightforward.

I finally settled for combining a reference to my name that isn't heraldic and some lines of poetry in a rather oblique way. Sort of like the imprese, it's a game with a layered reference. I'm the only one who gets the joke, but that's alright with me.


My persona's name (since I've just swapped personas to an Italian one) is Praxilla Taurinae.  The last name is the Italian version of "daughter of the bull," but the first name is that of a 5th century BC Greek poet. Praxilla of Sikyon was referred to as one of the "9 muses on earth" for her poetry. She had a type of dactylic meter names for her called the Praxilleion. She was known for writing skolia, a type of drinking song, as well as more extended mythological treatments.  There aren't many remaining fragments,only eight little samples, but her reputation for greatness remains.  The longest section of one of her poems is from a hymn to Adonis.

Most beautiful of things I leave is sunlight.

Then come shining stars and the moon’s face.

Then ripe cucumbers and apples and pears.

I decided to put this on my fan, along with a woodcut of a pear taken from Historia novi et admirabilis  by the Swiss botanist Johan Bauhin, published in 1598. There were over 200 varieties of pear in the 16th century with a surge of new types, and Bauhin includes 41 in his book.  Pears also happen to be my very favorite fruit. Sweet and subtle, yet difficult to find ripe and perfect. 

References
Anea's article on flag fans http://aneafiles.webs.com/flagfan.html
Bella's woven fan http://renaissanceitaly.net/mygarb/flagfan.htm
 The Woman and the Lyre: Women Writers in Classical Greece and Rome by Jane Macintosh Snyder

Filigree flag fan

My last attempt at a venterolla/weathercock fan/flag fan was a quicky thing I threw together to motivate myself and I have never been particularly thrilled with it. The handle was too short and I didn't care for the fact that it spun around on the stitches that attached the fan to the handle. After seeing the GORGEOUS fan Angela Bacci made for Idle Hands I was even more determined that I needed a fantastic fan. Angela's is machine embroidered and I don't have that option, nor the months I'd need to do the goldwork by hand but the filigree she used for the handle gave me an idea. I had the same square pieces in stash that I've used for hats and the collar on my zibillino and a bunch of other projects over the years. I was going to just do like she had and wrap the handle and then do the fan of cutwork leather. I even made a fan that way. Its very bright and fun, but after it was done it seemed more like Russian folk art than something for an Italian fan. That's not to say that the flag fans weren't fun. They were printed with rebus puzzles and music and other things.(Again, I'm taking documentation from Purple files archived page.) This image from At Home in Renaissance Italy is of a rebus puzzle poem from the late 16th century by Giulio Cesare Croce.

Another time I want to draw up one of the rebus from Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks (he composed dozens of them) and put it on a fan, but it just wasn't what I wanted for this one. This fan had to rival the peacock feather one I'd already made for elegance and decadence.

I considered doing a cut paper fan, especially after seeing Aine's printable fan based on the extant vellum one in the Marselleti collection in Venice.

I love the lacey reticella effect. So, I pulled out some bristol board and my filigree bits and started assembling my supplies. Seeing the filigree on the paper gave me a new idea, however, and the wheels started turning. I glued the filigree to the paper (on both sides) and thought I was happy with it, but then considered color. Then I added pearls and beads to the handle which meant I needed pearls on the fan. It kept escalating. After all, as Praksedys will tell you, "More is more." I can easily see how regulations forbidding decadent ones like the 1522 statute forbidding "fans of lynx and ermine with handles of gold and silver encrusted with jewels and pearls" happened. They're addictive. For further information on statutes and some great pictures, check out Anea's page on flag fans.

Nipping procrastination in the bud

I am the world's biggest procrastinator. That's the reason I've been posting everyday first thing in the morning. Its an attempt to get momentum and accountability. I'm hoping enough momentum will result in a finished project. This morning there was nothing to post about, other than a pile of unfinished underskirt. I was just going to not post today and justify it. But then, I've been justifying no progress for a couple of days now. So, here's my diversionary tactic and kick in the pants. I offer up, my flag fan.

Its all stash stuff, which is why the dowel is a bit shorter than I would have preferred, but I'm really kind of thrilled with the happy accident of the tassels. I've had this tiny piece of trim that was too cool to throw out and too small to do anything with. I had about an inch left over. There wasn't enough for both sides, so its folded over the edge and sewn into place. It looks nice and finished on the back, but there is most certainly a front side .

The handle is treated with the same metallic rubbing wax I used for the other fan and I finished off the top and bottom of the dowel with a couple of beads. The fabric is leftover jacquard from my underskirt. I put a thin layer of card stock inside two layers of fabric and then the flag part is buttonhole stitch closed on the edge and whipped onto the dowel. The stitches aren't loose, but they do allow the flag to rotate a little. Between the little bit of give and the swing of the tassels, the fan just feels whimsical and make me grin pretty ridiculously when fanning.

Speaking of whimsy, I pulled out the materials to work on my zibellino and went and looked at Sable Greyhound Gifts for inspiration. Holly has the most beautiful zibis and droolworthy jewelry. I'm really considering forgoing the points and just having her make me the perfect zibellino and caracanet rather than making my own jewelry and fur. She lives in my Province and I've only resisted buying one so far is that I had nothing to wear with it. I won't have that excuse any more, dang it Her newest brilliant idea is the Zibaby-- miniature zibellini. I may have to make my little girls Venetian gowns and get them their own accessories so I can steal them. The thought of my one year old baby girl in a gown with a zibaby and her twin brother all done up to match in a tiny doublet is cause for squeals. My older daughter would just look elegant.

My zibellino is going to be pretty large and would be best worn over the shoulder or arm, I may still make it up just to see how it goes and buy a smaller one from Holly to dangle from the girdle as a different option.

Okay, procrastination held at bay for another day. Just keep swimming. . . er, um SEWING. Just keep sewing. The underskirt has to start taking shape soon, right?