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Sunnybrook1 β Realistic Wing Tutorial - P.0
Published: 2013-03-06 13:33:32 +0000 UTC; Views: 101845; Favourites: 854; Downloads: 970
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Description
Some of you asked for it, so here it is - a list of the materials needed to follow my tutorial and make a full set of realistic costume wings.Click here for a transcription/text version of this list~
Part 0 - MATERIALS
YOU ARE HERE Part 0.5 - TOOLS
Part 1 - CONCEPT
Part 2 - FEATHERS
Part 3 - HARNESS
Part 4 - ASSEMBLY
Part 5 - COVERTS
Part 6 - ARM-COVER WIP
EXTRA -Β RESULTS : See what OTHER people have made following this tutorial~
Still working on the last part - post questions, suggestions, and encouragement below~
EDIT 05/19/2014: Made sure to add that 12 gauge wire is equivalent to hanger wire, as the latter is becoming harder to find in some areas.
EDIT 05/16/2017: Hot tip from TatianaDragonWhisper , if you find dog collars at your local dollar store you can harvest parachute buckles & D-rings from them for cheap!
Already finished your wings? Please fill out this questionnaire , I'd love to hear about it!
Wing Design/Tutorial Β© Sunnybrook1
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Comments: 164
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I'm so excited to make a pair of these for my crow harpy costume! Thank you for all the time and effort to make this tutorial! I was thinking of thrifting a few umbrellas for wire in place of the hangers? I have a one busted umbrella already. The wire seems flexibleΒ enough and bounces back to its original shape. What do you think?
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Thanks so much for getting back to me! Will do!
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I'm sooooo absolutly gratefull for this tutorial! totally try to get all stuff or trying some different stuff. So THANK YOU!
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wowie....so much supplies butΒ its going to be so hard to find what I need o-o
not to mention expensive to get all that wire and fabric
but I am not giving up XD
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It's worth it, I think, and I've tried to mention alternatives to having to buy expensive new materials, when I can. Wire hangers, cheap dog collars, bed sheets, & so on. I wish you luck~
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oh my god- I already have 14 yards of white cotton fabric QuQ
I shoulda looked here at the time but my mom bought the fabric without me lol
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Well, you have it now I guess? 
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*nods, determined* I shall complete this XD I even found 100ft copper 12 gauge wire....which took longer than expected
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Oh, golly. I'm going to attempt to make the wings today,
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Oh boy, if you do post pictures, as always I'd love to see~Β
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I don't have a glue gun, mine blew up today hah XD
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Oh dear! 
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yea we are ok xD I'm looking for an replacement now XD
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Ok, I've had this lurking in my favorites for some time, while I gathered together the materials and worked on the rest of my costume. I can't WAIT to finally get started, and want to thank you BUNCHES for this awesome tutorial!!!
My question is this: what is the benefit of the 12gauge wire and alligator clips? I saw mention that someone, somewhere had used straws??? I'm looking to try and keep the weight on mine down, and interested in alternate options as opposed to all that metal? Any suggestions would be much appreciated!
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Good luck with your build!
The 12 gauge wire is strong & can hold up thicker fabrics like broadcloth & felt, if you go the straw route you'll need to use thin/light fabric & spreadable glue (wall-paint-as-glue doesn't work as well unless the fabric is thick enough to absorb it) as well as dowels to mount the feathers on, like so:
Alligator clips: they're a bit pricey, but they allow you to adjust the secondary feathers more easily, HOWEVER I found that bending the end-bit of wire around the elastic & clamping it down tight enough to stay still allows you to tug it into a new position if needed:
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Oooh gotcha. Im looking at using either a cotton/poly blend or repurposed jersey knit (tshirt material) bedsheets so I might Β need the heavier wire as opposed to the dowel rods I was eyeballing. I didn't realize the clips made the feathers adjustable, but that makes perfect sense. I'll experiment a bit and see what suits. Thanks so much for the reply!
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Clips are more easily adjustable & removeable, but honestly crimping a bit of the wire around the elastic just as well, it's just harder to unbend & remove if the feather needs replacing.
But BOY is it a time-saver when making the wings, no need to glue & wait & hope they don't come undone in the future.
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It has been DONE! Or something like it, lol. Lot of tweaks, mods, and touch-ups still to go, but....
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(forgot to add to original comment) I see you recommend broadfabric, but are there other kinds you would recommend? What would you recommend NOT using?
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what kind of fabric did you use or what would you recommend using?Β
And with the painting part.. does it have to be paint? I feel like paint won't hold as well as fabric glue or contact adhesive would.
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I recommend NOT using: anything that's super heavy or expensive or rare, since they take lots of materials & if you ever want to repair them in the future not being able to find the right fabric would make it difficult.
And nope, doesn't have to be paint, I used what was cheapest & what worked - people have made it work with everything from spray adhesive, wallpaper glue, elmers glue (the strong gallon-sized stuff), hot glue, etc. There are pros/cons to each kind, could probably make an entire chapter in a wing-making books on types of glue & their effects.
I personally have liked the paint because despite the (cons) use too much & the paint color bleeds through the fabric a bit & may need to be color-corrected afterwards, and slides around more easily before it's dried, meaning I have to handle it more carefully, it has some unique (pros) once it has dried & you find something is off slightly/needs corrected, it can be peeled apart fairly easily & repainted, BUT it still keeps the fabric layers together quite reliably (up to a certain size) and the paint I used had a flexibility to it that allowed the resulting feathers to be flexible as well.
Some glues dry so stiff that the feathers make clacking sounds when they hit each other, unlike the soft rustling of soft fabric against fabric, or the thwack of a suddenly open wingspan~
Could kinda go all day about this, but really just wish I had tons of materials & some time, would love to do a weekly livestream where w just test out materials & see what the results are.
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I like making my cosplays a little stronger than clothes you buy at the store (especially the bigger some part of a cosplay gets) because in crowded places like cons, parts can get accidentally kicked/stepped on and could break or rip. And it's never fun when you have a part of your cosplay breaking at a con and you can't fix it, hints the original plan to use stronger/heavier fabric and asking about paint vs. glue to avoid such accident from happening.
This is very helpful. Thank you so much!
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heyo! I really love these wings, and thank you so much for making this tutorial! I'm going to try making a pair for my decidueye cosplay. I have plenty of time for trial and error and plenty of material at home already so hopefully it will work out fine, i'm pretty excited to try it out!
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Yeah, bird pokemon have been some of my most favorite costumes made using this style, I'd love to see your results, I love the look of that ghosty-birb!
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This tutorial is awesome! Β Thank you for sharing it. Β I will be make a set of these for next years Halloween with a couple tweaks. Β Instead of a harness I'm going to make a corset with the buckles sewn into it so I don't have to layer over the harness. Β I'm super excited to get started on it in the next couple months.
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Glad you like it, and a corset sounds like it'll work fine, would love to see your results!
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Can the fabric be broadcloth? And do you know if the paint used to "glue" the feathers together would soak through the broadcloth? I'm making house sparrow wings and since the feathers are a different color on the top than the bottom, I want to make sure that the paint doesn't soak through the fabric and make the wings a different color than they are.
I just want to make sure it'll be fine before I buy any fabricΒ Β
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Yes, and yes it does a bit, which is why I choose a similarly colored paint to match the fabric (OR you can paint the wings to your desired color afterwards).
In your case, with the feathers being two-colored, I'd use paint that matches the lighter color, since in my opinion it's easier to darken something to match rather than lighten it. Then you just brush or spray-paint the darker sides of the wings (warning with spray paint though, the cheap stuff can smell awful, do it WAY in advance so it has time to wear off - or use acrylic paint, though it'll make them a bit heavier overall).
OR use Elmers glue instead of paint, it's a bit pricier and stickier (unless you water it down a bit) but it should dry clear. 
No matter what you do, make a test feather first to determine the results and method you like best, THEN buy the materials in bulk.
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Okay thank you! If the paint happens to seep throught the fabric then I'll just paint over it (I have to paint some of it a different color anyways). Huh I didn't know that about the spray paint, if I happen to get the cheaper stuff then I'll be sure to give it enough time for the smell to wear off.
Thanks for the help!
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Is there any other way I can make the feathers by using poster board rather than gluing fabric together? I'd Like to find a way to decrease the time and the cost to make these wings. I thought I had a great idea on how to make wings until I saw these and then I fell in love with them but for a cost of around $200...
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I have a question about the wire used for the feathers:Β
From what i see, i have some 12 gauge wire, and it's very flexible, and won't work for this project.Β
Is there anything else i might be able to use? I've tried searching myself but can't seem to come up with anything other than a maybe thicker wire or bbq skewers ..
-thank you!
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Well, I use thicker 10 gauge wire for the feathers, it can be bought in 100 yd rolls in most US hardware stores. Also online via amazon.
Does that help?
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thank you! i will try again with 10 gauge wire
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I'm going to make these wings hopefully soon and I was wandering if it's be fine to substitute the latex tubbing for elastic?
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How much did all of the supplies cost altogether? Or a rough estimate? Just curious if I could actually afford this, I was doing your sketches when I decided I should probably figure out how much this process cost. I really love your work and your tutorials are amazing!
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Thanks, glad to hear!
If you make something let me know, I'd love to see it!
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Thank you so much! Very helpful, and I sure will!
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Hi! I'm going to try to make a pair of peacock wings for a Halloween costume for later this year. Do you think it would be possible to make them look like a realistic peacock , or would be be more feasible to just do a very dark blue ? This will really be my first large craft project, and even though I have a lot of time, I'm worried I don't have to know-how or the skills needed to make realistic ones.Β
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Hello! 
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Alright, Thank you!
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Thank you!! I might modify this, the wings I want to make are back wings fixed into a folded position. This is the first set of helpful tutorials that I've found so far!
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Glad to hear it, I'd love to see what you come up with.
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I will! Thank you!!
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Β Β Β Β Β you. are. my. heroooooooooo! thak you ilove so muuuuch!
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Lol, thanks.
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