How to make a pair of Angel Wings

In this Instructable I will explain how to make a pair of wings which could be used to dress up as an angel, bird, or anything else with feathered wings (for example certain species of dragon).

Visit my How To Make Angel Wings page on Squidoo.com for more photos, hints and updates on what the wings have been up to recently, as well as to find out about my latest projects. 

The motivation for this outfit was 1) I like to make a spectacle of myself, 2) I was going to the local Surfers Against Sewage fancy dress ball, the theme being recycling. I decided to go as a recycled human being. This evolved into 'Recycled Elvis', although I actually looked more like 'Recycled Morrissey'. You can see me on their website;

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

I am somewhat of a perfectionist and 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 much less time.

It's rather difficult to rate the expense and difficulty of this project; I spent about 200 pounds on the wings and another 200 pounds 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. In this Instructable I have described most of the simple practical and mathematical techniques used to make the wings; I have assumed very little previous knowledge and ability. Please be patient with these passages if they do not apply to you.

If you do decide to make wings from this Instructable please make sure that you read all of it carefully first, then read well 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 later how I attached the wings, but I can say that I danced the night away and a particularly irritating man tried to pull the wings off but they stayed on. I fell over he pulled so hard.

Check out my moulded earplug company website at www.zenplugs.co.uk

My latest project is my free iPhone app Skootch at www.mutantsoftware.co.uk

Step 1 Key Features

Key features of the wings;

1) They are made of real feathers

2) They are articulated and so 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.

Comments

[Nyanman]

hmmm...
want to make now.
wonder if I could get away with this for prom...
and thinking out loud...

can they be scaled up?
IMHO, i'd want to add just a little extra length to them. maybe no more than a foot.
would el wire work or those fiber optic things instead of that many feathers?

[T0BY]

I'd have made them longer but I wouldn't be able to sit down. I had to travel by car with them on.

[janderson64]

your house has ghost orbs in it freakyyy!!!!!!!!!!!

[janderson64]

your house has ghost orbs in it freaky lol !!!!!!!!

[rboggess1]

i would like to know if it would be possible to change the feathers into a more bat like appearance or even a shredded fabric?

[FrozenIce]

i really like it :) i might even take ur concept idea and make wings for an action figure to use in a stopmotion short :)

[acoleman8]

If i wanted to could i change certain parts to make them into demon/angel wings? You know like one wing is like a red bat the other your angel wing design.

[VampireFrancesca]

I love maximum ride, and these wings are kind of what i'd imagine the kids' wings to be like. cool instructable!

[your dog]

same

[Gnara]

agreed

[badideasrus]

except, bigger than these, right? not to dis the wings, they're great. i just always imagined the wings in maximum ride to be huge (which would be much more realistic if one wished to give man flight, bird bones or no)

[VampireFrancesca]

yeah, much bigger, but it's how i imagine the basic structure.

[CluainnFhada]

I used to love maximum ride, then it died and I pretend that saved the world and other extreme sports is the last one...


AWESOME wings though.

[monkeys98]

yeh the books really arent very good now but they started out as one of my favourite series

[Gnara]

I so agree! the first three are the best. from there it goes down hill.
Did you read the original two?
When the wind blows and The lake house?

[monkeys98]

these are so awesome and detailed
i could never build this

[bobbubbles]

sryman, but these dont look like ibis wings, maybe they'd look better if you didnt fold them, you just make them lift up

[bobbubbles]

and they wouldnt bash into people or doorways

[yuanyuan9.mli]

i want to decorate my wings, any suggestions?

[starrymirth]

A fluffy sparkly white yarn would probably look quite good, and for ultimate coolness I'd try white fibre optics tinsel-like stuff.

IMHO I think any decorations should be in white, cause I think a lot of the beauty of it is the pure whiteness. I think adding bright colours would make it look... less cool, but tiny white lights... Understated magnificence.

Regarding the instructable - WOW - so totally want a pair of these - massive ones that hang down to my feet, and open out to a large wingspan... LOVE the fact that they open out - is there a way to make them stay open without holding them?
As an extension - I would try make a pair that i could control with some form of string with catches, so I could open and close them surreptitiously.
Even more cool would be flexible ones that I could fold over the front of my body...

So wish I had the time and money to make these!!

[crak-a-bottle]

I'm not sure how well it would work, but sewing in LEDs with conductive thread or whatever it is might be cool. Putting LEDs on ANYTHING automagically makes it cooler :P

[shmuki]

Maybe some fiber-optics like they have in the wings of home decoration angels?

[BM13]

My stars these are AMAZING! I have a small question though.... You have how to attach them onto your back....but what about on clothing? I use duct tape with alot of things, and I quickly learned that duct tape doesn't stick to clothing very well..... What would you suggest I do for clothes? *I'm not going to cut a hole in the back so the wings will pop out attached to my back. The dress I'm using is way too nice for that XD I'll stick things on it, but not cut it.*

[badideasrus]

try double sided tape. it will hurt like crazy if you use it on your body tho. we used it to tape a plastic sheet over the old windows in our house. when we tried to pull it off the window, it ripped the plastic (thick stuff too)

[despairedpheonix]

indeed...how DID you do it?

[BM13]

Oh! Nevermind! I figured it out! :D

[bristait]

You got me interested there :D How did you do it??

[stufffedkitty]

This Reminds me of Maximum Ride a series im going to read after thelighting thief

[Gnara]

super good book!!!!

[badideasrus]

you mean series? cuz there's more than one. all of them are good.

[Hodgepodge75]

I'm making wings to look like Fang's because I'm going to a literary diner party.

[Duct Tape Dude]

My exact thoughts!!! My best friend has been reading Maximum Ride and at random points of the day he says "I WANT WINGS!!!!!!" great gift huh?

[thomasedisonjr]

Please include a warning that these wings are for show only! Yes, most of us would know that, but I am sure you would not want to be responsible for a child leaping to his death, in hope that his new "wings" will keep him aloft. I am not saying that this will happen, but it could. And it is your responsibility to insure the safety of ALL who read you Instructable. Because of the lack of warning, I, regretfully, cannot recommend this Instructable. I am willing to change my recommendation if you add an appropriate warning. Thank you, and otherwise, nice work.

[Samsicle]

Honestly, if parents these days were more involved with the lives of their children, "warnings" wouldn't be needed. If a child thinks he/she can put these on and actually fly, he's either mentally impaired (and shouldn't be making wings in the first place), his/her parents are irresponsible morons, or (god forbid) BOTH.


I suppose birds would also be blamed for a child wanting/trying to fly? Or perhaps butterflies? And airplane manufacturers? The parents CERTAINLY aren't at fault whatsoever.


Christ. The lack of personal responsibility in some people these days is absolutely astounding.



Regardless, the wings are just beautiful. You have very good costuming skills. Please make more pretty things. :)

[Capt. Kidd]

what if the airplane manufacturers are parents that are morons?

[bubbalubba]

Yes, not posting a warning would certainly make him responsible for the death of a child, and of course if you had not asked him to do so, you too would be responsible for such a tragedy. You might consider the same to those who are creating instructables on how to re-roof a house......that roofs are to protect us from the elements and never to try out your Angel Wings or otherwise jump from. Without such a warning one would not insure the safety of ALL who might read that instructable. He must, however, include in his warning that if one desires to fly with these wings it must only be done in a "lift off" manner such as from ground level.
I can't wait to try out a pair of Angel Wings. I would start off with small heights like from the top a car.

[daltonjcw]

What makes your own stupidity of jumping off a cliff with these on this guy's fault? I agree with Danno B, but that is not the only reason to detest your opinion. In case you had forgotten: "We have a "be nice" comment policy. Please be positive and constructive with your comments or risk being banned from our site." Ii would't want to be responsible nor would I be if an idiot did jump ship with these on.

Also, this a really cool Instructable!

[Danno_B]

The common myth, that there are such a huge number of people so daft as to need such warnings, is just that - a myth.

Anyone who was capable of actually constructing these, without understanding that these would not grant the power of flight, would be beyond my power of imagination. I just can't see it happening.

Awesome instructable - thanks!

[crazycloud]

If a kid is the type who wants to figure out how to fly, a warning sure won't stop them. They will just try to figure a way to modify them to work. My brother and sister and most of my friends were always coming up with something crazy and we could have been killed many times. We had a lot of fun and in the end learned a lot. Anybody done the "who can make the tallest stilts" bit. You had to get on the garage roof to mount my brothers. He could walk for hours on them.

[Proteus414]

Nothing like taking responsibilities for your own actions. First of all, any kid that can manage to assemble these materials, put them together so they look real, and then attach them to their body so that they might physiologically work...probably knows better than to jump off a building while thinking these will work. You're the same guy that doesn't like dodgeball because it hurts.