Self-made straw fan

The more convenient life, the more dependent on modern tools. When summer comes, once the temperature breaks 30 degrees, everyone will complain bitterly and wish to stay in the air-conditioned room.

When I was a child, there was no electricity at that time, but in the hot summer, I didn't rely too much on the way to cool off the heat. Life is just as interesting. Of course, there were simple and convenient summer choices at that time, such as diving into the crystal clear river and lying on a bamboo mat in the cool yard. Of course, the most commonly used is the fan. Farmers are not rich, and it is basically impossible to buy high-grade folding fans and wonderful cloth fans. Basically, they are all raw materials that are woven by themselves and are within reach. There are palm leaves, broken bamboo, banana leaves, cardboard ... the most popular and popular is woven with wheat straw.

When the wheat is ripe, we begin to prepare the fan. Everyone will notice which straw is thick and white and write it down secretly. When the wheat is harvested, the younger sisters will beg for some, and the master will be happy to meet everyone's requirements.

My straw was once valued by the girls in the village, and my sister's inner joy was beyond words. When harvesting wheat, I mentioned the use of these straws again and again, as if sharing was priceless.

When the wheat is brought back, it is threshed and basked in the sun. The purpose is to dry the water immediately by exposure to avoid discoloration or mildew during storage.

After the busiest season in spring and summer, the weather is getting hotter and hotter, and there is less farm work. My sister and the girls in the village will take advantage of their lunch break to take out thousands of wheat straws, select the wheat straws with no knots in the upper part and even thickness at both ends, cut them, tie them with ropes and soak them in water until the water is soft. At the same time, the tendons of palm leaves are soaked in water.

When you start weaving a fan, you should insert a palm Ye Jin, and several straws will weave a thumb-wide flat belt around it. The palm Ye Jin will play a fixed role, so that the belt will not be concave and convex, which looks ugly, and at the same time, it will increase the hardness and firmness of the fan.

Weaving a fan seems simple, but it is also a meticulous work. It all depends on the feel. Otherwise, it is difficult to make the width of the woven belt consistent from beginning to end. However, there is no doubt about the skills of the girls. The skillful hands trained by peasant women from childhood are all experts in fan weaving. You see them sitting in the shade with their heads down. There is always a man with a braid on his shoulder, shining and black. Several people sometimes whisper, sometimes concentrate on weaving, weaving a distant dream again and again. As the length increases, the belt is like a long snake. Weave to a certain length, and it is finished.

The next step is the fan forming process. In order to make the fan more beautiful, it is usually embroidered on a round white cloth the size of a palm. Girls will embroider meaningful embroidery, such as Yuanyang playing in water and letting a hundred flowers blossom. With the increase of various kinds of silk threads, the white cloth will soon come to life.

Sewing a fan is a step that only people with fine needlework can be competent after embroidery. No matter how beautiful the fan is, the finally sewn fan will not be sewn well, and the stitches will be very large, which will greatly reduce the aesthetics in your hand and will be laughed at by your peers. In order to make the fan achieve artistic effect, my mother is responsible for sewing fans in our home. Mother will carefully sew the ribbon with a needle and thread while winding it. When the fan is completely sewn, she will sew the previous embroidery in the center of the fan and cooperate with the handle, and a round fan named Art was born.

In the hot and difficult summer, it is natural to use your own DIY fan, which is not only cool, but also a weapon to repel mosquitoes. When snuggling in her arms, her mother always beat mosquitoes with a fan, and the hot summer passed unconsciously.

Now staying in the city, all kinds of fans are at your fingertips. Even the air conditioner and the electric fan are pressed by remote control, so there is no need to blow a breeze, and no effort is needed at all. It's too easy to get, but there is no intimacy. In my heart, I can't forget the simple and practical grass fan made by hand in those years, an unforgettable feeling that lingers in my heart for a long time.