VietNamNet Bridge – Going to Vac village in Thanh Oai district, Hanoi, visitors will only see bird cages and paper fans. They do not know that this ancient village used to be very famous for its special product – horn-fans. Today, only one couple in the village makes horn-fans.



Mr. Le Van Thu, 68 and Ms. Tran Thi Cong, 61 are now the only horn-fan
makers in Vac village. “My grandfather made horn-fans. My mother
presented a horn-fan to President Ho Chi Minh. Now only I and my
wife make horn-fans. My children have turned to produce bird cage
 to earn higher income. I also have to make bird cages to earn
 some extra money,” Mr. Thu said.




There are 16 steps to make a horn-fan. A horn fan usually has 17 blades,
which are made from bamboo which was soaked in water for around one
month to fight wood-eaters. Bamboo blades are joined together. The next
stage is ‘dong nhai’ or using small flower-shaped steel pieces to fix blades.





After that, bamboo blades are decorated by buffalo horn pieces. “Buffalo horns
 are provided by Thuy Ung village (Thuong Tin district, Hanoi). Horn pieces must
be dried in fire to make them flat before they are carves,” Tin said.




Blades are arranged again to make equal distance between blades.





The most interesting step is ‘phat’ or stick paper on blades. The paper is do paper
 from Dong Ho folk painting village in Bac Ninh province. Do paper is stuck onto blades
by resin from ‘cay’ trees, from Ninh Binh province.




Fans are dyed, normally in brown and violet, and dried. The next step is covering
 resin on the fan. Thanks to this layer of resin, the fan will not be torn or lose color.






Fan markers use needles to make dragons on fans. Pagodas and
art troupes are familiar customers of Mr. Tu.





A horn fan is priced VND65,000 ($3). “We only make horn fans at orders. We only
hope that this product will not disappear in the future,” Mr. Thu said.
VNE