Saturday, November 01, 2008

Butterfly Wings

Butterfly Wings

A couple of weeks ago, my coworker and I were discussing homemade halloween costumes. She has an 18 month old and didn't want to buy her a costume. I got really into the idea of making a costume (shocking, I know) and started thinking about it. We had been talking about making a set of wings for her little girl and my brain kept working on it.

So, as often happens when my brain is already working on a craft project, eventually my hands got into it too and Wednesday evening I constructed the wings.

I took 2 wire hangers and bent them into a wing shape. Then i bent the hook down and duct-taped the two together.
Butterfly Wings skeleton
I wrapped it really well (with clear duct-tape b/c that's what I had on hand) so that it was sturdy.

Next I cut the legs from a pair of (new) nylons and slipped them over the wings. I gathered them at the center and wrapped the excess around the join. This provided a bit of padding, which was a bonus.
Nylon covering

I sewed 2 strips of 1/2 inch elastic into circles and slipped them over the wings for arm straps. I hot-glued them down, then started wrapping the join with ribbon, hot-gluing as I went. I covered the straps as best I could.
Straps & center

Then I painted the wings with acrylic craft paint and voila!
Butterfly Wings

My coworker and her husband loved it and after some initial hesitation their little girl loved them too. Her mom had made her some antennae from pipe cleaners and attached them to a headband to complete the butterfly costume. They brought her in at lunch yesterday to see everyone (and gather arm-loads of loot!) and she looked so adorable!

1 comment:

  1. Hi. I am a curator at a gallery in Oakland, California. I am interested in showing some of your work. How can I get in touch with you via email? Email me at gallery@rpscollective.com if you are interested.

    Thanks!
    MB

    ReplyDelete

Hi! I'm so glad you stopped by. I'd love to hear from you.