How To Make Angel Wings

You can see more pictures of me on the SAS Ball Website.

http://www.sas.org.uk/events/ball2006/gallery_2006_night_2.htm

I am a bit of a perfectionist and so wanted to make the wings the best that they could be, hence I spent around 70 hours on them. There are many shortcuts you could take to do it in less time.

I spent about £200 on the wings and another £200 on the rest of the angel outfit, although you could do it for next to nothing with a bit of effort. I will explain as we go through. As for difficulty, it is not technically complicated but it does require a lot of patience and fiddling about. I have described most of the practical and mathematical techniques used to make the wings; I have assumed very little previous knowledge and ability. Please be patient if these sections do not apply to you.

If you do decide to make the wings please make sure that you read all of it carefully first, then read ahead of the point you are working from in order that you pick up all the relevant points before you go ahead.

You will find out further on how I attached the wings, but I can say that I danced the night away and a particularly annoying man tried to pull the wings off but they stayed on.

Key features are;

1) They are made from real feathers

2) They are articulated and fold up and down in a fairly realistic fashion.

3) (My favorite part) they have no visible attachment, making it look as though you actually have wings. Well cool, even if I say so myself.

You can see my ant farm on the left of the picture. I made it using a double-glazed window unit and gouged a couple of holes in the seal at the top. I made the holes as small as possible and pushed soil through then put soe tubing in for ventilation and to tip sugary water through. I put some ants in it but never managed to find a queen so they all died =(

I spent quite a long time studying photos of various birds wings so the angel wings would look realistic. I decided I wanted my wings to look like those of an ibis, so typed 'ibis flying' into Google pictures measured the proportions of the wings in the pictures. I was made a note of the ratio of their length to their depth and the layout of the feathers. I would recommend that you do the same if you want your wings to look realistic. I kept some of the best pictures open on my laptop whilst I built the wings. Choose wings you like the look of and save the pictures for later.

I divided the length by the depth to give a ratio I could then apply to my own wings. Note whether you are measuring from where the wing joins the body of the bird or from the centre of it's back. Make sure the view of the wing is as perpendicular as you can find otherwise the wing will appear shortened and your ratio will be wrong.

In the image I used the wing is 9cm by 3cm. 3 divided by 9 gives a ratio of 0.3 recurring.

Calculate how far along the wing the joint is and write it down. Calculate this ratio in the same way. Note the pattern of the feathers along the wing.

Image attributed to Mike Fisher, distributed via Wikimedia Commons; American White Ibis flying at Brazos Bend State Park, Fort Bend County, Texas, USA.

You will need;

1) Feathers. I used hand-selected 12-inch long white turkey flight feathers from Ostrich.com, these were the only ones I could find which were suitable. I bought 1250 because I didn't know how many I would use and the box contained a mixture of left and right feathers and I wasn't sure how many of each there would be. Also I only had time to wait for one order. In the end I used about 250 left and 250 right feathers.

2) Thin card. For the articulated segments of wings. White or another light colour is best, but you could cover with white paper or paint if you have none.

3) String and strong plastic twine.

4) Three feet of thin white fabric.

5) About 15ft of 1/2 inch bamboo. I will explain how to calculate the exact length you will need later.

6) Stiff uncoated garden wire, as sported by Mike in the photo (thanks Mike and Matt, I couldn't have done this without you!)

7) All-purpose clear solvent-based adhesive. I got through 14 * 50ml tubes (700mls) as a guide. Keep the window open!

8) About 1ft square piece of 1/8 inch thick plywood.

9) Duct tape to attach the wings to your back (I couldn't believe it would work either!)

10) 2 small bolts, 4 washers and 2 locking nuts. These ones are about 2mm by 20mm but it doesn't matter exactly. For wing hinges.

My friend Mike Austin sporting a dashing garden-wire choker. Yes, he is a messy eater.

Tools you will need;

1) Safety goggles. Protective gloves would also be a good idea.

2) Decent scissors for a good finish on the feathers. These are hairdressing scissors

3) Good pliers with wire cutters.

4) Retractable heavy duty knife or substantial craft knife.

5) Screwdriver for bolts (depends on your bolt head type). I used one with a bradawl attachment for making the holes in the card and plywood. A hole punch for the card and a drill for the ply would work instead.

6) Hack saw for cutting bolts.

7) Sharp wood saw.

8) Tape measure (I forgot to put this in the photo. Silly me.)

You can see Copernicus the Snail who kept me company during the long nights of trimming and steaming feathers. I found Radio 2 and a bottle of wine was a reasonable substitute for his quippy conversation when he was asleep.

I wanted my wings to have the widest wingspan possible, fold, and also allow me to sit down as we were traveling by car. I sat down on a chair and measued the distance from the chair to a point about 2 inches above my shoulder. This gave me the length of the longest spar of the wing. The size of the shorter spar is calculated from the ratios we calculated earlier. If the shorter part of the wing on your photo is 0.2 of the length of the longer part then multiply the distance from the chair to your shoulder by 0.2 to give the length of your short spar.

If you don't need to sit down in your wings you could make the wingspan as large as you like, to the point where they drag on the floor. As you can see from the picture they ended up being slightly longer than I intended as I didn't fully account for the length of the feathers. Knock off about 5 inches from the length you measure for the longer part to give the length of the spar to allow for this.

The first photo shows what you are aiming to make. I have used this picture of the completed frame throughout the Lens as it shows each part clearly and helps to see what you are aiming towards.

Lets start with the hinge. You may be able to buy/find one that does the job but I made mine because it was cheaper and only took 2 minutes.

Cut 4 6-inch pieces of wire and bend them into the shapes shown in the second image. The loop needs to be small enough not to let the washer come through but large enough that they're not a tight fit on the bolt. The legs should be parallel and 1/2 an inch apart.

The third picture shows a finished hinge. Make two. Trim the bolts flush to the nut with the hacksaw.

The fourth image shows the hinge bound to the long and short spars. Cover the end of the spars in glue before binding with the string, then cover liberally with glue afterwards. You don't want them to fall apart when you are wearing them. Make 2.

Now we are going to make the articulated sections which allow the wings to open out without leaving a gap.

Cut 4 triangles out of the card; they need to be reasonably stiff. The length of the triangle needs to be 3-inches shorter than the short arm of your wing, as you can see in the photo above. The width of the base needs to be 3/5ths the length of the side of the triangle. It's going to vary according to the size and proportions of your wings. You need the arrangement shown below in the photos; it may take a little experimentation. Too many triangles makes a fat and bulky wing, too few means a less realistic spreading effect. You could use just two, one attached to each spar, but it would look less effective on spreading. Four looked good on my wing.

Make hinges for the triangles from garden wire by folding a 3.5 inch piece into a T-shape, as shown above. Reinforce the points of the triangles where they join by covering with tape to about an inch from the end so the hinge doesn't pull through.

Make a small hole near the sharpest point of each triangle using your bradawl or hole-punch, then thread all of them on to the hinge. Fold the other end of the wire so that it forms an H-shape, see picture above (I have omitted the card here to make it clearer). Alternatively you could use a paper fastener or even tie a loop of string through the hole but be careful not to tie it too tight or the hinge won't work.

Stick the left-hand edge of the bottom triangle to the back edge of the shortest spar leaving 2 inches of bamboo showing at the end, as in the image below.

Cut 4 pieces of tape from the white material, one for each triangle. Make them 1/2 inch wide and as long as 4/5 of the width of the base of your triangle. Glue them as shown with one end towards the centre of the front of the triangle and the other end to the same point on the back of the above triangle.

Check that the triangles can spread out so that they only just overlap but can fold as per the photos. Hold or prop them apart whilst they dry so they don't stick together. The tapes are attached at varying points on the triangles in the pictures due to adjustments I made whilst the glue was drying. The top triangle is attached to the long spar; check that it allowsfull flexion and extension of the wing before letting the glue dry.

Now we are going to make the wing formers.

Make four loops from the wire. Mine are about 1/7 or 1/8 of the depth of my wing in diameter, but it will vary with the type of wing you are making. Measure how deep the bony leading edge is on the picture you are using as reference. I exaggerated the depth of mine slightly for effect.

The above photo shows the position of the rings on the spars. Fasten the first two at opposite ends of the short spar, the third at the inside end of the long spar and the fourth a quarter of the way along it. You can take a piece of string the length of the spar and fold it half twice to quickly find the point you need. Position them with the bamboo on the inside of the rings and bind and glue them tightly.

The two rings on the left in the picture have wire struts to stop them from moving under the tension of the material we will later apply to them. Hold a piece of wire against the ring and the bamboo to work out how much you will need to make a strut which runs at about 45 degrees to the wing. Allow about 1 and 1/2 inches on top of this to attach it at either end. Cut it using the wire cutters. Wind one end around the top of the ring once using the pliers then glue the other end securely to the top-side of the shorter spar. I glued a small piece of material over the end for reinforcement. Prop it whilst it dries.

Now make 2 snail-shaped pieces of wire as shown above. The length of the snails' bodies depends on how deep your wing is at the points halfway and 3/4 of the way along the longest spar. Check the depth of the leading edge to give the diameter of it's shell. Notice that the 2 snails are different sizes to allow for the wing to taper towards it's tip. When calculating the length of their bodies knock off 5 inches to allow for feather overlap later on. Take measurements from your reference image, remember that we have knocked five inches off the length of the wing to give the length of the spar. It doesn't matter if you don't calculate these points precisely as long as both left and right wings use the same measurements.

Bind the snails to the frame using the string then cover the binding in glue.

Now we will cover the frame in fabric. I have repeatedly included the above image for ease of reference.

Started by taking the whole sheet of fabric, make sure the weave runs parallel to the leading edge spars and sticking one edge of it to the underside of the longest spar from the largest snail to the far tip of the wing. This is on the front side of the wing; i.e, on the top side of the snails' bodies. I allowed it to dry then wrapped it around the snail's shells, under their bodies and up to their heads where I folded it over and glued it down. Pull it quite taught so it can support the feathers you will stick to it. I held it by hand until the glue dried and kept my eye on it for slippage. You could try taping it if you are in a hurry but it might not work as well, you might waste time in the long-run if it slips and then the glue dries. Fold and stick along the large snail's body and shell, again holding it until it dries. I trimmed the excess material away as I went so as to get the sizing right and to make sticking it easier.

Next I ran a string diagonally from the largest snail's head to a point near the beginning of the longest strut and tied and stuck each end so that the string was tight. Don't tie it to the shorter one as it would pull as the wing extends. The string will hold the material taught.

Repeat the process with the rest of the leading edge of the wing but without the part with the snails' bodies; form a simple tube instead. The photo shows the finished result for the longest part of the wing. Repeat on the shorter spar. The finished ends of the tube are shown in the image below.

Repeat the 'Making the Frame' steps 1 to 5 in mirror image to make the right wing.

I bought the highest quality feathers I could find; a box of 1250 came to about £180, but you might be able to find them elsewhere for much less. You could try the internet or local farmers.

The above picture shows a feather straight from the box.

The above photo show the same feather after I;

1) Teased the edges together (they have microscopic hooks and eyes which join back together again if you run your finger along the edge).

2) Steamed it for about 30 seconds over boiling water in a pan (mind your fingers). This opens it up and softens the outline.

3) Trimmed the ends. Check images of your bird of choice for feather shapes; they vary along the length of the wing.

I did this for about 400 of the feathers, this is why the project took so long.

Each wing needs to be covered with feathers at the front and the back. The picture shows the back of the completed left wing and the half finished right wing at the front. it really is worth paying attention to the details because although onlookers won't necessarily notice individual feathers it will improve the overall impression of the wings. It's something you can only learn through experience, patience and determination, a zenplug if you will. Birds wings are very beautiful and so I thought if I copied them as closely as possible my wings would be beautiful too.

Start sticking the feathers from the tip of the wing. I used the longest, nicest feathers for the trailing edge as they are the most obvious. Put glue on one side of the shaft of the feather and then hold it in place until it stays on its own. It is important to look at the overall contour of the wing with each feather you apply to check it's alignment fits. Also, keep referring back to your photos to check you are getting it right. If you are not happy with it don't be scared to pull the feathers off and start again; it'll be worth it in the long run. Remember that we allowed 5 inches for the feathers to overlap the spar tip. Make sure you get the right and the left feathers the correct way round and also remember that feathers have a back and a front.

The feathers all had fluffy fronds at their bases, as you can see in the above photos. I sometimes cut these off or covered this part of the feather up with other feathers. Stagger each feather in the second layer so that it's shaft lies between the two feathers it covers in the next layer. Again, refer to the photo you are copying. Notice how the feathers converge onto a single point and how the ends are fairly evenly spaced. Remember how many inches too short you made the snails' bodies and allow the feathers to overhang by this much.

Repeat on the front and the back of the wing.

Covering the card triangles uses the same principle but appears as though it should be harder although it isn't really. The main difference was that I cut the shafts short at the unfeathered end so that they did not get wedged near the hinge or interfere with the movement of the ribbons between the triangles. I calculated the lengths so that the shafts of the first tier of feathers overlapped the triangles by about 2 inches. The knife was best for this, although big scissors worked but catapulted the piece of shaft across the room at about 40ft per second.

When you get up into the corner of the elbow cut the feathers short and tuck them right in. Some of them need to be glued along one edge only to allow overlap and movement. Remember to keep making sure the wing can still move.

The above photo demonstrates the fluffy bits which are probably best removed. There were often scaly bits on the bare shaft which I removed to help the glue stick.

I have repeated this photo here to show the hinge in action and the trimmed ends of some of the feathers.

You can see here how I arranged the feathers in the corner and over the elbow.

The leading edge of the wing is the next part we will make.

The above photo shows how there is an uncovered space over the elbow of the wing. The best way to cover this with feathers was to first overlap the tube end with whole feathers then cover these with feather trimmings, so that it looks like picture above. This allows more movement and adjustment. Bend the ends of the feathers to make a blind end for the tube. This part took a couple of goes to get it right. I used some feather shafts with the feathery parts cut away for structural strength and wrapped the trimmings around the leading edge, as you can see.

I stripped the fronds from feathers by holding the thick end of the feather shaft and running a sharp Stanley knife along the edge, away from me on both sides, the result is shown above.

The stripped fronds are very fragile and come apart easily. if you are patient you can join it back together with your fingers, or you can stick the fragments on separately. Or hurl them in the bin.

I then applied quite a lot of glue to these in one long bead and wound them around the front side of the leading edge. The four photos below show how they are arranged. Keep them all in the same orientation or it will look wrong. Bits often stuck out and required more glue.

Start from the wing tip, working inwards and overlap the fronds all the way.

When you have completed both wings turn them over and cover the back of the leading edges with complete feathers.

When attaching the feathers check the direction of the adjacent ones; there shouldn't be any sudden changes of direction and all the feathers should point in the same direction.

In the above photo you can see where the feathers are bent over to cover the opening. You can also see that there is a small space to allow the wings to flex and extend.

This photo shows the wing from above so that you can see where the complete feathers on the back of the wing join the feather strippings on the front aspect.

This is the point about 2/3 of the way along the longest spar where the wing starts to taper. I stuck the uppermost long feather you can see here to maintain the overall shape of the leading edge as the fabric was slightly loose at this point. You can see that I have trimmed the feather longways to make it thinner.

The above photo demonstrates two things;

1) That I have stuck down the feather edges for a neat effect.

2) That if you have a laminate floor you should ask naughty friends with stilettos to leave them at the door. (Tracey-Anne Coutts, you know who you are!)

Ask a friend to measure the distance between your shoulder joints across your back. You are looking for the point about 2 inches towards your spine from each joint. These are the points where the wings will appear to join on to your body and is also the width of the back plate and the distance apart of the bases of the wings.

The photos above and bolow show how the wings are fastened on; in Indiana Jones rope-bridge stylee.

I have used 2 spars to join the wings together; this allows the wings to point upwards and outwards without turning downwards. The bottom spar in the diagram is tied at the ends of the shorter spars, the top spar is tied an inch and a half further along. Bind them and cover in glue.

Note the angle of the wings with the connecting spars. I went for about 40 degrees and they settled to about 25-30 degrees when worn.

Now let's make the baseplate shown above. It is a trapezium shape, the longer edge at the top being the length we measured earlier between your shoulder joints.

Mine measures 11 inches across the longest edge, 11 inches deep and 8 inches across the shortest edge.

I made holes using the bradawl along the top edge every inch, although every 2 inches would probably do. A drill would have made it easier. I then made 2 sets of holes in a rectangular pattern just below these holes. The middle of the rectangle is about 2 inches in from the edge and the top edge about 1/2 inch below the row of holes.

Make another hole just above the bottom edge of the baseplate and pass a foot of plastic string through it and tie it on.

Now make 2 hooks with a 3 inch loop at the top and a 2 and a 1/2 inch hook at the bottom. I used quadruple thickness wire and tied it on to the baseplate tightly using lots of plastic twine, then smothered it in glue.

Tie the baseplate to the upper strut with lots of string and then glue it to stop the knots coming undone.

Look carefully at the image above and you will see that the wing spars were cut too short and had to be extended by tying on extra pieces of bamboo. It's best to cut pieces long where possible and then cut them to the right length later.

I sprayed silver paint on the parts of the backplate which were visible to make them less visible; white paint would have worked better.

I threaded strong nylon string through the holes then tied on the hook and glued it.

Bend the wire hooks away from the base plate and then bend them back down again about 1/4 inch further along so that they run parallel to the board. This will allow space for them to pass through the rings.

A close-up photo showing the angle of the hook.

Next we will use feathers to cover the baseplate.

The photo shows how I trimmed the feathers to cover where the wing and the backplate join. It's a good idea to overlap with the backplate to hide it as much as possible.

Cover the back the same way as you did the wings. If you use left feathers on the left half and right feathers on the right it should look good. I bent the feathers into a curve at the top so that they would cover the plate and spars nicely, which is shown in the photo below. I found that you can also turn a left feather into a right feather (and v.v.) if you run out, by gently bending it along its length and then reconnecting the fronds which disconnect from their neighbours. In the event I had exactly the right number of left and right feathers, down to the last one, but needed more to make repairs after the ball so ended up converting many right feathers into lefts.

The wings are now finished!

I asked Helpful Mike to hold the wings up to my back and mark with a pen the points where the hooks and the string at the bottom of the base board lined up on my back. I then made three loops the same as I did for the hinges but straightened out the 2-inch legs so that they looked like omegas (have a look on google images). He covered up the ends of the wire with tape so they weren't sharp then taped them on to my back with duct tape in the positions he marked, with the loops sticking out perpendicular to my back.

I checked I wasn't allergic to the tape by walking around for a day with a piece stuck to my arm under my t-shirt.

Extend the taped area as large as you can without it showing around the backplate. You can always cover it with body paint if it shows a bit.

I wore white Converse, white Ted Baker trousers and white sunglasses. Mike and Matt helped to cover me in white body paint which took about 2 and a 1/2 hours for me to be happy with it. I got an Elvis trim and back-combed my hair.

I had fun at the ball; several women wanted their photo taken with me and at one point it all got a bit much and I had to run away and hide in the toilets.