Make a Folding Popsicle Stick Fan

2014-08-16 11:23:55 X Romiter Woodworking Machine Blogs

So our move is currently underway! Eeek. The movers just took away our
boxes and we’re doing some “urban camping” in our apartment (aka
sleeping on air mattresses and living without a tv and toys) for the
next week. While this is happening, Chuck and I are still trying to find
moments to create. Today I’m going to share with you a super easy
tutorial for a folding popsicle stick fan that we recently made. Yes. It really folds. Pretty neat, right?

Make a Folding Popsicle Stick Fan

Materials Needed to Make Folding Popsicle Fan

Popsicle Sticks
Paper Fasteners
Drill
Paper
Pen
Scissors
Watercolors
Crayons
Scotch tape and Blue Tape

Let’s Make a Folding Popsicle Stick Fan

1. Take 5 or so Popsicle sticks and tape them together. Then, drill a
hole on one end through all the Popsicle sticks. Make sure the hole is
big enough for the fastener to go through.

2. Push a fastener through all the Popsicle Sticks to attach them
together. Then, remove your tape and trim the back of the fastener.
3. Spread your sticks out like the ribs of a fan so that they are evenly space from one another.
4. Then, trace out a fan shape around the sticks. Keep your sticks
spread out and remove them from the picture. Draw in the bottom arc of
the fan. (I found that drawing a higher arc helped the fan to properly
open and close.)
5. Cut out your fan shape and then paint with watercolors or color in with crayons.

6. Once your paint dries, tape the spread out Popsicle sticks to the back of your fan. Trim off any excess paper.
7. Now it’s time to do the inaugural folding of the fan. Very
carefully begin folding your paper fan. Your fold placement will be
permanent. It will also depend on the shape of your fan’s bottom arc
and the spacing between your sticks. (As you can see, mine would not
fold completely closed.)
8. Open your fan! (And then close… and then open… and then close.. you get the drift….)

And that’s it! You’re done!