Making your own concert uchiwa
Thursday, March 8, 2012
First of all, what's an uchiwa?
Basically, it's a non-folding Japanese fan.
Urban Dictionary defines uchiwa as
"A good found at every Johnny's Entertainment concert. It is a huge fan with an asian idol's face printed on it."
Well, if you bring an uchiwa to a concert, there's two kinds. The handmade kind and the ones that you buy from the concert with the face of the idol on it.
Here's a typical scene at any Johnny's concert.
I've always dreamed of making my own handmade uchiwa! :)
And since I'm finally able to attend Hey! Say! JUMP Hong Kong 2012 concert... I decided I should really make one to mark this special occasion :)
Well, if you're in Japan, it'll be really easy because the materials to make the uchiwa will be very accessible. There's even a shop in Japan that specializes in it! They have the uchiwa, the stickers and everything ready.
But since I'm not in Japan, nor am I going to Japan, I have some hard time searching for the materials.
The best place to find any thing related to the Japanese culture in Singapore is to look at the shop, Daiso.
I remembered reading some Singaporean fan who bought her uchiwa materials from Daiso. But I wasn't exactly sure. So I decided to go down and hunt for the materials.
Things you need to make your own uchiwa:
A plain uchiwa to decorate on
Neon paper for the words
That's basically all you need.
You'll want the words to be neon because it's most visible in the dark concert hall.
I went to 3 Daiso stores in Singapore to search for the materials. Different stores have different stocks. Some have this, and some have that.
But unfortunately for me, all 3 of the stores I went didn't have any plain uchiwa. I've searched Daiso online store and it seems that they actually do sell such plain uchiwa.
These are in jumbo size (which is the biggest allowed size for the concerts). There are heart-shaped ones and smaller ones too.
It's a pity I couldn't find them while I was hunting for it.
I guess you can make them yourselves but I can't seem to find a guide anywhere!
But I found neon stickers :)
They are literally called "concert decorative sticker".
For the decorative sticker message, there are only two kinds that I found. One with "arigatou" and "omedetou", and the other one with "jankenpo".
The stars, hearts and "LOVE" words are pop-up :)
And at another Daiso store, I found blank pieces of neon stickers (which I bought).
So here are the stickers I bought for the uchiwa.
The blank pink and yellow neon papers are actually huge pieces of stickers. So it makes your job a lot easier without any glue or tape.
I got myself blank pieces of paper for the uchiwa since I couldn't find a plain uchiwa to work on. These paper are 30x30 (standard scrapbook paper)
So after getting the materials, it's time to start working on the uchiwa! :)
First, I planned the positions of the words and how I wanted the uchiwa to look like.
Yeah, I imagined it on a real uchiwa I had since my handmade uchiwa isn't done up yet.
Then, I had to draw the words out on the neon paper to prepare. It had to be mirror image since I was drawing it at the back of the neon paper first before cutting it out.
I know my "心" in "慧" is written wrongly here. I have no idea why I thought it was the other way round!
Here's how I wanted it to look like. Squeezing four names into one uchiwa isn't what a normal person will do though.
Next, I made the uchiwa base.
Carefully cut out the black base. It was easy for me cause I had a real jumbo uchiwa to follow the shape with. But please remember the size restrictions of the uchiwa! Jumbo Uchiwa Size Restriction for Johnny's concerts: width x height (29.5cm x 28.5cm).
:)
The next step is to paste the stickers onto the uchiwa!
My "慧" is correct now :)
Since I had to squeeze four names into one, I didn't do bordering for this side of the uchiwa.
But I did it for the other side!
And I still have a lot leftover materials after making both sides!
I could jolly well make another uchiwa :3
I'm actually rather impressed at how they actually have products specially meant for making uchiwa for concerts! These are not your everyday items that you need so to actually have products that cater to the needs of such things is really amazing.
Ok that's it for today :)
I'm off to watch their new SUMMARY 2011 concert DVD and get a feel of how awesome their concert will be! :)
Basically, it's a non-folding Japanese fan.
Urban Dictionary defines uchiwa as
"A good found at every Johnny's Entertainment concert. It is a huge fan with an asian idol's face printed on it."
Well, if you bring an uchiwa to a concert, there's two kinds. The handmade kind and the ones that you buy from the concert with the face of the idol on it.
Here's a typical scene at any Johnny's concert.
I've always dreamed of making my own handmade uchiwa! :)
And since I'm finally able to attend Hey! Say! JUMP Hong Kong 2012 concert... I decided I should really make one to mark this special occasion :)
Well, if you're in Japan, it'll be really easy because the materials to make the uchiwa will be very accessible. There's even a shop in Japan that specializes in it! They have the uchiwa, the stickers and everything ready.
But since I'm not in Japan, nor am I going to Japan, I have some hard time searching for the materials.
The best place to find any thing related to the Japanese culture in Singapore is to look at the shop, Daiso.
I remembered reading some Singaporean fan who bought her uchiwa materials from Daiso. But I wasn't exactly sure. So I decided to go down and hunt for the materials.
Things you need to make your own uchiwa:
A plain uchiwa to decorate on
Neon paper for the words
That's basically all you need.
You'll want the words to be neon because it's most visible in the dark concert hall.
I went to 3 Daiso stores in Singapore to search for the materials. Different stores have different stocks. Some have this, and some have that.
But unfortunately for me, all 3 of the stores I went didn't have any plain uchiwa. I've searched Daiso online store and it seems that they actually do sell such plain uchiwa.
These are in jumbo size (which is the biggest allowed size for the concerts). There are heart-shaped ones and smaller ones too.
It's a pity I couldn't find them while I was hunting for it.
I guess you can make them yourselves but I can't seem to find a guide anywhere!
But I found neon stickers :)
They are literally called "concert decorative sticker".
For the decorative sticker message, there are only two kinds that I found. One with "arigatou" and "omedetou", and the other one with "jankenpo".
The stars, hearts and "LOVE" words are pop-up :)
And at another Daiso store, I found blank pieces of neon stickers (which I bought).
So here are the stickers I bought for the uchiwa.
The blank pink and yellow neon papers are actually huge pieces of stickers. So it makes your job a lot easier without any glue or tape.
I got myself blank pieces of paper for the uchiwa since I couldn't find a plain uchiwa to work on. These paper are 30x30 (standard scrapbook paper)
So after getting the materials, it's time to start working on the uchiwa! :)
First, I planned the positions of the words and how I wanted the uchiwa to look like.
Yeah, I imagined it on a real uchiwa I had since my handmade uchiwa isn't done up yet.
Then, I had to draw the words out on the neon paper to prepare. It had to be mirror image since I was drawing it at the back of the neon paper first before cutting it out.
I know my "心" in "慧" is written wrongly here. I have no idea why I thought it was the other way round!
Here's how I wanted it to look like. Squeezing four names into one uchiwa isn't what a normal person will do though.
Next, I made the uchiwa base.
Carefully cut out the black base. It was easy for me cause I had a real jumbo uchiwa to follow the shape with. But please remember the size restrictions of the uchiwa! Jumbo Uchiwa Size Restriction for Johnny's concerts: width x height (29.5cm x 28.5cm).
:)
The next step is to paste the stickers onto the uchiwa!
My "慧" is correct now :)
Since I had to squeeze four names into one, I didn't do bordering for this side of the uchiwa.
But I did it for the other side!
And I still have a lot leftover materials after making both sides!
I could jolly well make another uchiwa :3
I'm actually rather impressed at how they actually have products specially meant for making uchiwa for concerts! These are not your everyday items that you need so to actually have products that cater to the needs of such things is really amazing.
Ok that's it for today :)
I'm off to watch their new SUMMARY 2011 concert DVD and get a feel of how awesome their concert will be! :)