Wing Making Tutorial
Oh man. Finally, after ages of procrastinating, here is the made-from-scratch wing tutorial. Please don’t share this technique with others who aren’t in the Club, but feel free to use the technique for your own creature creations!
In order to free-hand wings, you want to first design the wing itself! I based my wing on a picture of a firefly wing. I drew it in pencil, then darkened the lines with sharpie.
Make sure you flip the paper over and draw the lines on the other side! This will make sure your wings are a perfect mirror of one another.
3. Let's start with one side first- it doesn't matter which one! Break out your Angelina Film (I recommend buying it from ooakartistsemporium). Cover the wings with a good flat surface of film and tape it into place with masking tape.
4. Next we break out our wire and fabritac glue. I like to use aluminum wire for wings because its extra light-weight and flexible. Black is preferred since we want the veins on this guy to be dark. Make sure you get a gauge that is size-appropriate for your doll! I used 16 gauge here, and 20 gauge on the smaller bumblebee dragons. Cut out a piece of wire for each vein line on the wing, and run a bead of fabritac glue down the back. Gently press it over your sharpie line to adhere it on to the angelina film.
5. All the lines are down- yay! But the fabritac is not strong enough to hold the wings together on its own. so now...
6. We break out the Sakura 3d Lacquer! If you've been following me a while you know I love this stuff- and wing making is why I bought it in the first place.
7. Drizzle some sakura on your wing, and use a paint brush to even it out and brush it around each wire. You don't want it too thick, but thick enough to secure the wing and wire together. Keep in mind, sakura is non-water soluble so you'll want to clean your brush with soap, or glass cleaner, or paint thinner afterward!
8. The wings are all coated with sakura now. Let ‘em dry from 24-48 hours before attempting this next bit.
9. Your wings are now dry. We're going to carefully cut them out following the wire line.
10. Fun fact about Angelina film: it reacts to heat, causing it to shrink and become oil-spotted. To make your wings look extra real, run an open flame across the side of the wings that does not have exposed wire. This will cause the wings to shrink to the wire a bit, and make the veins stick out realistically. Don't over-do it though, or you'll burn through your wing!
11. You can really see the dimension this step add to the overall look.
12. Just a few more steps. At this point I like to break out my black craft paint and paint the veins on the non-wire side of the wing. It helps them stand out, and gives both side a more even look.
13. I'm using one of my fine-tipped paintbrushes and just following the wire lines.
14. Heres the wing with the lines all painted. Looks kinda flat huh? That's why we...
15. Break out the sakura Lacquer again!
16. Same technique, I'm going to just brush the lacquer over the black lines, trying to keep it thick enough to hold its shape.
17. There we go! You've got one half of a set of wings! Turn your pattern paper over, and do the same thing again on the other side. No wonder handmade wings are so expensive XD
I hope this tutorial on how I make my shiny wings was helpful, or at least informative. As with anything, practice, practice, practice and don’t be discouraged if your first set of wings don’t turn out!