Another find from the flea market - a finely carved fan from what seems to be ivory, dating from I'd say at least around 1900 (and hence old enough to buy it with good conscience). The only thing that was broken is the clasp on the handle that would have held a decorative tassel or ribbon adornment and, being from tha same material as the fan, was broken with only half of it remaining. It will be substituted by a metal one as soon as I figure out where to get high quality fan supplies. What I could repair was the missing silk ribbon that would hold the leaves together. As I am in the process of beginning a silk-ribbon embroidered dress I happened to have silk ribbon at home, and after deciding which colour of ribbon would fit the ivory best I set out to buy twenty bottles of silk dye in all shades of the rainbow and dyed the piece a nice midnight blue. The rest to come for the dress... If you dye silk ribbon, you can either paint it, or dip it. If you want it perfectly saturated, either dip it, or go over it with a brush several times until every fibre has taken in the colour. I opt for dipping and hanging the ribbon to dry on a paperclip. Neat and tidy. Don't forget to iron it thoroughly, according to the instuctions of the dyes you're using.
If you repair the binding of a fan make sure to start right and work your way from the upper side of the fan downwards from behind to front, or from left working upwards, or else you'll never be able to close the fan properly or casually whisk it open with a flick of your hand - trust me, I learned it the hard way ;) The ends of the ribbon are secured with clear super glue. Bone glue would have been proper, but I'm certainly not starting to cook out bones in my kitchen...
No comments:
Post a Comment