Apart from being a lover of DIY and I am also a mixed-media artist.  I love to take everyday items and give them a mixed-media makeover. This was a shop mannequin that I was given which I decorated in a steampunk theme using lots of recycled materials.  Once it was completed I felt it was missing something. I came up with the idea to make some large angel wings using real feathers.

The idea I had in my mind was to have large black angel wings that could be shaped around the mannequin. I spent a long time browsing the internet looking for a tutorial but could not find one that would work. I put a lot of thought into how I could make my Angel wings so today I am sharing how I made these.

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DIY Angel wings with real feathers

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Drawing the wings

I will start by saying I can not draw, what a contradiction I know an artist who cannot draw. But I can still cheat to create what I need.  I do this by using a projector loaded with the image I want and blowing it up onto the wall. This was the image I would use as a temple to make the angel wings.

Next, I used a large sheet of Kraft paper which I attached to the wall with blue tack. I resized the image to the size that I wanted then using a black Sharpie pen I traced around the outline. I was not too concerned about tracing all the details on the wings. The template was more of a guide to the shape and the proportion of the angel wings.

Making the shapable wing

As you can see it was a really rough outline. I cut around the basic shape of the wings to remove the excess paper for the next step.

To make the wings I cut 2 pieces of chicken wire slightly bigger than the shape of the wings. I repeated this for both wings.

Next, I lay the paper template on top of the chicken wire and joined the two pieces of chicken wire together around the outline using small cable ties. I did try using one layer of chicken wire first but it was so floppy I knew they would not stand up straight once all the feathers were added.

Once I added the second layer I was able to bend the wings into different shapes without them moving back.

Once I had secured enough area to keep the two pieces of chicken wire together I used some side cutters to cut away the excess wire. To bend all the shape wires in I used some cut-resistant gloves and carefully bent all the sharp edges into the middle of the wings.

Because I am selling this steampunk mannequin I have to make sure that the person who does buy it does not get injured in any way. For this reason, I added a few layers of duct tape around the sharp edges to prevent anyway getting spiked by the wire.

Covering the wings with fabric

With the base for the wings now complete I need a surface on which I could glue the feathers. I recycled an old sheet I had in my cupboard and made a cover for every angel wing. As a precaution, I randomly tacked the fabric to the chicken wire with a fishing line to prevent the fabric from slipping.

Add support to the wing

I needed a way to attach the wing to the mannequin without having any visible straps.  If you want to make these for cosplay then adding shoulder straps would be perfect.  But on this mannequin I wanted it to look like the wings were part of the mannequin.

The only idea I could come up with was to add a piece of wood to the inside of the wings. I cut a small slit in the wing and pushed the wood inside and added cable ties to hold it in place. The image below shows the placement of the wood in the second wing.

Sort your feathers

Before you start adding the feathers it is important to know that feathers have a contour direction. You have a left and a right contour for feathers. If you just glue the feathers randomly your wings will end up looking very messy. In the image below you can see the difference between the left and the right.

It is better to sort them out first to make sure you have enough to do each wing. To make both these wings I used approximately 500 black goose feathers. (15 – 20cm)

Adding the feathers to the angel wings

Before I started adding the feathers I tried a few different types of glue and hot glue worked the best.  There was no way the feather was going to fall off.  I actually damaged the feather trying to pull it off it stuck so well.

If you are going to do black wings like mine I would also recommend that you use black hot glue.  The black will blend in with the feather and will not be visible. Also using the 30cm glue stick with an 11mm glue gun works better because you are not constantly running out of glue.

The most important tip I can give is to use silicone finger covers while glueing, this will prevent burns and blisters.

I started adding feathers at the bottom of the wing. It is a good practice to have at least half a feather overhang.  This will make sure none of the fabric is visible, this goes for the side of the wings too.

Once the first layer was added I lined the next feather up with the middle of the previous feather and glued the shaft to the fabric.

To attach the wings to the mannequin I was going to screw the wood into the back of the mannequin.  For this reason, I left out a few feathers around the wood which I would add once the wings were attached.

There are a few different types of feathers on the wings of birds and some have this fluffy texture.  I kept these to one side to add around the edges to cover up any gaps I might find.

Once you have completed one side flip the wing over and repeated on the reverse.

You start adding the feathers on the reverse the same way, the image below shows how the overlapping covers the fabric.

Adding “down Feathers” to the top

I was at a bit of a loss on how I would cover the shafts of the feather in the last row around the top of the wind.  You can cut the shafts shorter but they will still be visible. I had a down feather boa which worked perfectly for around the top.

I forgot to take a photo of it, but I used it as a prop in this project. 

To attach the feather boa I used a thin nylon thread to sew it around the top of the wings.  I screwed the wings into the back of the mannequin and shaped the wings to the frame of the mannequin. This was my most expensive piece of art which was bought by a steampunk art collector.

If you are interested in trying mixed media art, I have shared a step-by-step tutorial on how this steampunk mannequin was done.

One of the mannequins that I covered using recycled soda cans

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