Saturday 6 July 2013

DIY fantastic: Feather birds!




These little fellas are gorgeous, super cute! I helped a friend make them as part of the decorations for her wedding day. It was so lovely to be able to contribute to her big day, even if just in this small way. They were used to decorate the wishing tree, where people could write wishes and messages to the happy couple. But, they could be used for anywhere where a dose of fluffy cuteness is the order of the day!




What I used: 
1. Polystyrene balls in various sizes (small ones for the head and bigger ones for the body!)
2. Feathers in any colour combo you fancy
3. Scissors. I actually found that sharp nail scissors worked the best - sharp and precise!
4. Glue. Be sure it's the sort that doesn't eat up polystyrene - we got through a fair few polystyrene balls before we found one which worked!! :s
5. Beads or sequins for eyes and facial features

(This is what the giant bag of feathers looked like before we sorted them! So much fun!)




Start off with two polystyrene balls, of different sizes. Think about the dimensions you want for your birds at this stage and pick out a body and head that look about the right proportions. Take the scissors and shave off a small section to create a flat surface to glue onto the body. Use a small amount of glue and hold together until they are bonded.




Next I used a small piece of wire and glue it into the base of the body - this is super useful to hold when   we get to the gluing bit!! Once you've decided on your colour combo for your feathered friend, trim your feathers and split into the fluffy bits and the smooth silky feather bits!




I used the fluffy bits on the underside to represent a soft fluffy tummy and then the smoother feathers onto for a sleek look. Starting at the back and working forwards dab a small amount of glue onto the balls and add the feathers bit by bit.




Next find your best big feather for the tail and glue it on to the back letting it arch up and backwards. Now, shake yer tail feather!! ;)




Finally I started using the smooth feathers to cover the top of the body. Work from back to front, covering the area and keeping the feathers in the same direction




Almost there now! To finish this fella off and give it a bit of character I used some sequins as eyes and a pair of triangles of foam to conjure up something along the lines of a beak! This is an area where we can give our creativity completely free reign and see what you can find around the house to put to good use!

These guys look fantastic in all sorts of crazy colours and can be big small, sleek, fluffy, proud, shy, cute, mean or just down right crazy:





Or you can model them on real life birds. Here's Claire (the blushing bride!) making a blue-tit, I'm afraid I didn't have a picture of the final article but rest assured he was fluffy and EPIC!! :)



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