Cosplay Wings

Finished photo first! These suckers are 10 feet across. I still have to install the actuators and board so I can open and close them with the push of a button. This whole thing was done based on tutorials by the Crooked Feather - she's amazing. Go check out her Patreon!

Aluminum framework. It begins.

Lots and lots of prep work and drawings.

The big feathers are made of two layers of broadcloth with a 9 or 12 gauge wire (depending on the size of the feather) sandwiched in between with some industrial strength adhesive

Much fumes. So high.

There were a total of 46 big brown feathers. This took forever.

Dry time.

Once they were completely dry, each feather was shaped and ironed (this pic is pre-iron)

Constant checking for size to make sure I'm still following my template.

After being trimmed, I bent the top of the wire to form a loop so they could be attached to the frame.

Close up of the assembly - my hands hurt looking at this pic. Bending the 9 gauge wire was a bitch.

You can see the feathers at the top haven't been "looped" yet.

My all time favourite tool - those wire cutters make me want to take up a hobby of breaking and entering

My first time using an air brush. That sucker is REALLY fun. This is where I started to be a little bit excited with how this project was coming together.

Airbrushing done, now all the feathers are strung together with paracord so they open like a fan.

Again, lots of checking and double checking to make sure the spacing is right.

All feathers are strung and the knots have been glued to make sure they don't slip.

Played around with different colours. Realized that I had ordered the wrong type of feathers in the orange and went with all turquoise instead.

700 fluffy feathers being trimmed. SO. MUCH. FUZZ.

The sleeve is made of felt and spandex. And then the fluffies are stitched on one at a time.

The big quills are trimmed and attached with my hand dandy glue gun.

Sewing, and swearing, and sewing, and swearing...

Looks like a big feathery wiener.

Ready to attach the final quills to the fake feathers

Checking for fit and shape yet again

Finished! Here's how small they are when closed. They're just over 10 feet when extended.

I'm just waiting for the board and remote I've ordered to arrive so I can put on the actuators, battery, etc. They will open and close with the touch of a button. Unfortunately, the actuators I ordered are really slow, so I'm going to need some dramatic theme music while my wings unfurl.

This was a really interesting project with a very steep learning curve. Not gonna lie, I'm happy they're done and now I can get on to my next project - Storm trooper armour! Thanks for looking.

* Edit: Viral? What! You guys make me laugh every single day. I’m so glad you found this interesting. I’ll try to answer questions tomorrow and I’ll link to the tutorials. Sleep tight Imgur.

** To answer your questions. **
1. How much did it cost? Total is around $700 for materials. Feathers: $200, Back brace: $100, Actuators: $160, Fabric: $140, Hardware: $100
2. How long did it take? This is embarrassing, but I started collecting and sourcing material about a year ago. Actually started building back in September. I work full time in high tech and have two littles, and I started this cosplay thing about 2 years ago.
3. How much do they weigh? I think they'll be around 20 to 25 lbs once the actuators and battery are attached. The back brace is really well engineered so they're not that unwieldy - I bought it direct from the Crooked Feather.
4. Yes, I will be selling this set. I've realized they are way to big for me to wear (I'm 5'2"). I'm going to make a much smaller folded static set out of all my leftover wire and feathers.

Please check out https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8VnxN5MXxCaujD8Y6kw6VQ
and https://www.patreon.com/thecrookedfeather/overview

Alexis is super amazing and generous with sharing her knowledge. You can definitely make yourself a set based on her tutorials!

I will definitely post a video of the wings in action when I get them wire up. Love you guys.