How to: Fairy Wings

I've made a couple sets of fairy wings on here now, so I thought I'd post a how to.

Supplies:
-12g-14g wire. preferrably galvanized steel, but some aluminum ones will work too



Assuming you read this blog on a regular basis, you'll remember that i had a problem on my first pair of wings with the aluminum wire being too soft. I made the second pair of wings out of a different brand of aluminum wire (pictured) which is harder and holds its shape better than the other brand i had.

 -Fabric (for the purpose of this tutorial, i use sheer woven synthetics)
-Tacky Glue
-A Lighter (preferrably the kind you use for candles, not the kind that burn your fingers if you hold them too long)
-Glitter paint

How to:

Step 1- Choose your design. It helps to make a paper or cardboard pattern

This is a pattern for some kid's wings

Step 2- Form your wire frames for each wing segment

Step 3-coat both sides of the wire frames in tacky glue

Step 4- Lay the glue covered frame on fabric, and fold it over so it's sandwiched and sticking

Step 5- Cut out the wing segments

Step 6- Use a lighter to melt the extra fabric around the frame

Step 7-Paint glittery patterns and melt any holes you'd like to add.

My holes aren't great on the purple set because i used a high-powered grill lighter and it wasn't cooperating. You may want to use a match for the internal holes. It helps to cut them out, stick the lighter up through and then carefully melt.

Step 8-Attach tops to bottoms and then the two halves. I like clear electrical tape for this


In this picture, I had the bottom halves upside down. Whoops!

Step 9- Decide how you want the wings to be worn. If you'd like strapless wings (worn down the back of a bra or corset), add a sturdy u-shape loop of wire to the center joint and wrap sharp edges with electrical tape(like the white wings at the top of the page). If you want straps, you can wait until you're finished and tie a long ribbon to either side of the middle joint.

Step 10- Wrap the center joint with ribbon, or conceal by gluing flowers. Position wings. Add ribbon straps if desired.

Year 2: Week 3

I got it into my head that I felt like doing bowls this week. I started with some really large ones- think popcorn bowl size. I'm also on a bit of an insects kick with plans for butterflies and dragonflies.

I did this one yesterday. Really, the floral pattern is just one that I think is fun, but you could call it a dandelion or a dahlia.



close up of one of the flowers


For the second one, I decided to give you progress shots since I don't think I've ever really done that before. This is what my painting process looks like for a bumblebee bowl:




This is called a pin tool, and it's actual purpose is in ceramics and sculpture, but i use it for scratching. The yellow bit on the right is some rubber that i molded to my hand to cushion the pin tool






This how all of my glasses start- big black silhouettes without detail





Definitely no detail





So this is how the bottom both bowls started out- a big blacked out circle. Here I'm scratching in honeycomb shapes.




And this is how it ends up. Not at all what you were expecting, right?




Top view of the bottom of the bowl

Both of these bowls still need some cleanup and clearcoating, but I did the bee one tonight and it took about 3 hours so my hand isn't too happy with me. They'll be fun for summer.




Spoiler: Mini versions of these may be going into my Pay It Forward packages.