Please excuse the lighting in this tutorial, I used the wrong lens…well it was the right lens..I thought it would give a nice blurred background, artistic feel but what it really does is give you the feeling you are on a night out….or perhaps an angelic glow?? One day I will redo this!!

1. You will need:
 - Pliers
 - Cutters
 - Clay in your chosen colours and I always mix a little mix quick into your clay to make it stronger…not too much, in this case probably just a quarter of the total amount of clay or smaller.
 - Wire in various sizes according to the size of your figure.
(I have used 0.2mm, 0.3mm and 1cm wire)
 - Epoxy glue (or another strong glue)
 - Square tubes in sizes 1/8 and 3/32
 - Round rod in size 1/16
 - You will also need some liquid clay and a few tools.

2. To make a strong square rod, glue the round 1/16 rod into the square 3/32 tube.

3. Now your 1/8 square tube should be already built into the figure you are making ( I find it best to build the wings to fit the figure rather than the other way around.) Check and bend your rods to the shape of wing you are wanting to make…in this case they are feathered angel wings. Cut them to size, leaving a large enough area to attach the wires.

4. Cut lengths of the 1cm thick wire, long enough to bend in half. Cut as many as you think you will need depending on what you final wings will look like. These are just to add strength to the wing. I find it best to have a picture of the wing you want to make in the correct size to use as a guide.

5. Twist the longest wire and attach it to the rods you made earlier.

6. Use the thinnest wire to secure it in place.

7. Twist the rest of the wires on each side in the same way and arrange them as they will be once secured.

8. Secure them using the thinnest wire again, wind it around and then weave it inbetween each twisted wire.

9. Cover all of this with a thin layer of the clay you have chosen for the wings and cure it. Make sure you mold it into the basic shape that you want the wings to be before curing. This is the skeleton on which the feathers will be built.

10. Once they are cured, paint the liquid clay in a very thin layer onto the skeleton you have made.

11. Take pieces of clay, roll them into a sausage and flatten to make a long oval shape. Push this onto the skeleton starting from the bottom

12. Keep doing this laying each flattened oval shape in a feather-like pattern.

13. …and keep going…

14. …and some more…

15. Once you are half way down flip the wing over and do the same on the front side. Use the wire as your skeleton only, build the feathers as they would look on the wing.

16. Keep the pieces of clay quite thin but not too thin…this will also depend on how big your figure is. These wings are quite large, for a 16” figure. You don’t have to be super neat at this stage as you will be smoothing everything down later.

17. Finish the rest of the under side of the wing.

18. Turn it over and finish the front.

19. Nearly done…

20. Phew…this isn’t a quick job!

21. Use your tools to sculpt the ovals you have attached to look like feathers.

22. I use my flat dentist tool to score lines in the feathers.

23. A small pair of nail scissors is perfect to cut little sections out of the feathers to make them look more real.

24. The first side is complete.

25. This is another example of how I sculpt the feathers.

26. Now flip it over and do it all again!! You do have to hold the wing sometimes and sometimes you to end up pressing on the work you have already done. Don’t worry its easy to go back and add more detail again. If you use firmer clay like Fimo Classic it helps a bit too. Once you have sculpted the other side, cure it to save all your hard work!

27. Now to add the second layer. Start adding your ovals of clay.

28. Add the feather details as before.

29. I use the pin tool to make deeper indentations here and there.

30. Once that layer is done add another one until you reach the top and then flip it over and do it all again! It does take a while I know but its worth it!!

31. The finished and cured wings.

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33.  

34. Paint them if you want to!!

35.  

36. The underneath.

37. Try them on your figure!!