Accordion Pinwheel Fan Tutorial

Hey look!  Another tutorial!  I seriously LOVED how these looked hanging along the back wall of our wedding tent.  Too bad the photographers didn’t take pictures of them.  *ahem*  Right?  Good thing I took a photo at home beforehand: 

 
I love them so much that I will likely make more for other events in the future – like, oh say, a birthday??  Yeah, today is my birthday.  *high five*  I’m not sure what I’m going to do with myself just yet.  Keith is taking me to an awesome restaurant for dinner – I’m very excited about that – and in the meantime . . . I dunno.  My favorite thing to do is work on projects – I just can’t decide which one I’m going to focus on today.  Anyway, I know you don’t care, you just want the dang tutorial.  And here it is . . . 

This project can be made with any paper – we’re using newspaper today, but wallpaper is also fantastic.

For each newspaper pinwheel you will need: 

- 6 sheets of newspaper
- Stapler w/ staples
- Hot glue gun w/ glue
- Card stock
- Scissors
- 1 Scrap of newspaper
- 1 tab from soda can
- Contrasting paper for center (if desired)

 
Step One: Begin by accordian-folding each sheet of newspaper. 

Step Two: Overlap the last fold of one sheet and the first fold of another. Staple at the top and bottom.  Tip: If your paper is very decorative and the staples will stand out, substitute the staples with a dab of hot glue.  Continue this process with all six sheets of newspaper. 

 
Step Three: Join the first and last sheets as you did with the others – you will have a floppy tube. 

Step Four: Stand your tube upright.  Push the top edges down towards the center onto your work surface, easing them until they meet in the middle. 

 
Step Five: Secure the center with hot glue.  Be sure to hold your pinwheel in shape until the glue sets. 

Step Six: Flip your pinwheel over and reinforce the back center with hot glue.  As the hot glue sets, place a scrap of newspaper over the center for added strength. 

Step Seven: Cut a 4″ circle from the card stock and secure to the right side center of your pinwheel with a dab of hot glue.  If you’d like to add a decorative element, cut a starburst (or any shape) pattern from contrasting paper and hot glue to the card stock circle (as seen in the picture at the top of this post).

Step Eight: Hot glue the soda can tab to the back of your pinwheel – this makes a great hanger!

Experiment with pinwheels of different sizes hung at varying heights to make an interesting, beautiful backdrop.