It's no secret that I love anything with wings- butterflies, fairies, birds, you name it. I decided it was time to make my own feathers and here is the result.
Ok. Here comes the tutorial. There are a ton of pictures today.
Take your chipboard base and cover it with a couple layers of gesso. Once the gesso is dry I sanded it a bit to remove the tooth. I then used white paint and a stencil in random patches all over the chipboard. While the paint was drying I placed bits of washi tape on the base.
When the paint was dry I used several brown distress inks to color the gesso. The paint acts like a resist and you can easily see the pattern.
I then used watered down black acrylic paint and flicked it all over using a paint brush.
I used flower rub ons to finish the base of the background.
To make my feather I used a paper wrapped wire stem typically used for floral design.
I trimmed the wire to about 13 inches and then folded it almost in half. I twisted the ends together and then glued it on my Wedding Cut Out Cardstock from the Robin's Nest
.
I cut the paper into 4 even pieces. I used one piece for the bottom of the feather and the second for the top. I tried this a couple different ways. The first time i glued the paper and put the wire on top. The glue spread too much and made it too difficult to cut correctly(it didn't have he feathery look I was going for). The second time I put a bit of glue on my fingers and just rubbed it all over the wire. This kept the glue where I needed it and kept the two pieces of paper together. I set the feather aside to dry for about an hour. Once the feather was dry I traced a rough feather shape out.
I trimmed the paper and then snipped all the way around the edges right into the center where the wire is.
I colored the feather using various Distress ink sprays and Perfect Pearl shimmers.
The bottom exposed wire is wrapped in the same washi tape I used on the chipboard base. The feather is topped off with some green jute and a smidgen of Leafy Green Straw.I printed a quote from JM Barrie, the author of Peter Pan, on plain ivory cardstock.
I inked and smudged the print a tad. A tiny Tinkerbell from the Funkie Junkie boutique charm adds a bit of whimsy to the piece. Three Forest Brown Mini Dew Drops help draw your eye around the piece. A big fluffy bow made out of silk sari ribbon completes the wall hanging.
I hope you try to make your own feathers. I made a brightly colored one too using the same technique and it is awesome!
What have you been crafting?
Jess