Making wings for fairies, angels, bugs, etc.
Tips by the ODACA Artists & Aux members

Hedy Katin

I use artificial leaves. They have to have wire in the stems and be bendable. For long fern wings I bend them in the middle and sew them to the cloth body in the middle of the bend. I do this with two leaves. This gives the fairy two top wings and two lower bottom wings. Then to give them a little perk me up I add clear sparkle fingernail polish (fingernail polish with glitter in it) here and there on the leaves.

Susan Fosnot

I don't do a lot of dolls with wings, but I do make some small angels for Christmas that have wings. I like to use Dresdens. For those of you who are not familiar with antique German Christmas ornaments, Dresdens are die cut embossed paper that is gold on both sides. They were used both as components of home made ornaments, and in the case of the more elaborate ones, as ornaments on their own. I get my Dresden wings from a catalog company called Bloomchen. They come in several sizes. I use the tiny little ones that are about one inch long. I think they come in sizes up to four or six inches.

See Susan's work in the ODACA Artist Directory.

Ethel Loh Strickarz

I have tried many different media and techniques for creating wings for faeries, and have settled on the following method as producing the best results for me.

I use silk organza or a synthetic sheer fabric, with floral wire running along the top edge to stiffen and define, and to allow you to position the wing. If using a synthetic, I prefer a fabric with a slight metallic sheen, but have found that those with lots of silver or gold threads running through don't hold up well over time. They tend to fray easily and the weave separates with handling.

After drawing my wing pattern on white paper, I cut the fabric out, leaving about an 1/8" extra along the top where the wire will be applied. I use white fabric-covered floral wire in 18, 24 or 32 gauge depending upon how stiff I want the wing to be, and the relative size of the faerie I've sculpted. I apply the wire to the fabric in two different ways, also depending upon the look I want and the fabric I'm working with. I either glue the wire and then roll the extra fabric around the wire, or I stitch the wire to the fabric with a wide zig-zag machine stitch. FabriTac is the best glue to use for this.

After the wire has been applied, I paint the wings with an airbrush or by hand with thinned acrylics. I then singe the edges of the wings with a candle flame. You must be prepared to move quickly! If the wing begins to flame, smother it quickly with moist fingertips or your wing will vanish in flames within seconds.

Wings can be fastened to the back of your figure's clothing or you can drill a hole and insert the ends of the wires directly into the figure's back. I prefer the latter.

My wings can be seen at my website: www.eloh.com.

Return to Top of Page