Angel Wings

For Santa Con in Fort Lauderdale in 2013 I decided to make Angel wings. I found very little to go on so I had to just Make it up as I went from various bits of information In the end it was rather simple it just took a little time to create, but had dramatic effects I use the big board and then I laid string along a curve to see the shape of what I wanted my wing to be. I then Taped the wing shape to the board. I then used to this as a guide to manage the PVC curve. Just take a look at the pictures,the hardest part was just making the wings equal. Don't put any of the cloth on etc. until you have both wings roughly the same size I had a big piece of plywood which came in very nice , you have to securely bolt down the PVC to bend it. I had a 10 pound bag of sand which worked great to hold the board down. But in the end bending PVC is very easy what's is hot it bends very quickly. I used to 2" concrete screws and predrilled a hole and I screwed the PVC to the board Every 18 inches or so. Use your imagination in the end I didn't need a board it just made it easier to see in one big picture. Feathers came from Smilee.com. Order one half right wings and one half left wings. They have great customer service and it took about a week to get my feathers a very exciting day The great thing is they were already trimmed which save tons of hours trimming. Turkey feathers are about 10 inches long and they were very nice. No matter what when you bend the PVC don't use sand. A 1200 watt blow dryer works quite well it just took a few minutes to focus the heat and then the PVC bent. I used 1 inch PVC pipe and it bent just fine you can't get long bends just cut the pieces and duct tape them A small backpack was the best to provide support. I got it at Target in the little kids section Overall the wings were 51" tall x 27" wide and required 750 feathers. I would've bought 1000 feathers because in the end I ran out and couldn't do the last 8 inches on the back of the feather After I had the PVC frames assembled I used thin white cloth and rolled more cloth around the PVC to give it a natural look like a Birdwing has. You will find out there are gaps along the edge of the wings this cloth came in very handy. Allocate six weeks of weekends for this project I spent about two or three hours each weekend on them To place the feathers poke a hole with your awl put a little glue and then insert the feather. I just put them in a row ? Lay your feathers down along the wing and poke holes where the feathers would go. Cover up one half of the feather as you add an additional row. Use gorilla glue which works very well. The inside material was an air-conditioning filters. In retrospect I would've found white but in the and it didn't matter. This was my Epiphany, that?it would give feathers a place and the glue a place to bond better. In the end this was very easy been the PVC in the wing shape bookcloth on insert feathers the backpack was the hardest part because the support needs to be tiny but strong But note your PVc support that connects to your backpack and frame: make it so that the wings can move back and forth in a small area. I used T connectors and you have to have a top and bottom that gives more support in the backpack. In the end the wings way about 25 to 30 pounds Careful about the glue it does drip from the wings I am still trying to get it off my tile floor !! Cost. Feathers 750 for 150$ Cloth from Jo Anne Fabric 10$ PVC. 5 $ Awl 5$ Backpack 25& The effect was amazing as I walked down the streets of Fort Lauderdale hundreds of people wanted a picture with me. These wings are really big. In life these feathers were just amazing and very authentic looking. The bonus is once you make these wings it becomes apparent how to make any other wings. Enjoy and have fun I really love these wings!! Oz.