how to make EPIC angel wings!

HELLO i really really like making cosplay wings and i figya i should share the method with yall so you can ALSO really really like making cosplay wings

(btdubs i only have a few pics of the process so youre gonna have to use your imagination for a lot of it but i swear its simple)

ok lesgo

SUPPLIES

- 10 gauge wire (or thicker if you can find it!)

- packing foam (the thin kind that comes in big rolls)

- elastic or whatever you want to use for straps

- hella hot glue

- scissors... duh

designing

the first step is OBVIOUSLY to design what you want your wings to look like!

this method is super versatile so you can basically just make whatever shape you want. sharper, rounder, more or less realistic, whatever!

ive made two sets of these:

my big pair i wore to the supernatural convention (i was very excited to have finished them. as you can probably tell)

and my small double pair im wearing for halloween!

so these are two possible designs but you can really get funky with it

you can just freestyle it if you want but id recommend sketching it out first

ok so when you have your design generally figured out you can START

the wire structure

1. base

so how i make the base for my wings is i take a shirt that is around the same size as my torso (so like one that fits pretty tight but doesnt stretch) and i use that to approximate the size of my back

if you have someone around to help you could just have them measure your back but i dont so i use a shirt. thats my genius trick

anyway, make a wire rectangle about the width of your back (or wherever youre attaching them! could be your butt or something i dont know)

for my first pair the rectangle wasnt very tall because it was just one pair of wings but for the second pair it basically covered my whole back. the size of the rectangle really depends on your design

thats why you have to design the wings FIRST thing

then, to stabilize it, wrap another length of wire in a spiral around the rectangle and cover it ALLLL in hot glue. in the end it should look kinda like this ol thang

#aesthetic

also plan right now how youre going to CONCEAL the wire base, because the wings will only cover it so much

my base is concealed by a cape (not pictured in the final result image but it will be there in the assembled costume) so thats an idea

anywayyy youll see theres some little wire arms there? thats the next step!

2. wing structure

so just make arms that look like the shape of your wings. LMAO i told you it was simple

the wire should basically be wherever a birds bones are

except see how the furthest phalange ends in the middle of the wing? dont do that. if your wing is extended, your wire arm should end where you want the outermost feather to end, so you have structure and it doesnt just flop down

if you have a folded wing, you dont need structure to hold the feathers up, so you can make it end wherever depending on how Flappy you want your wings to be. the longer the arm, the stiffer the wing will be, and the shorter, the flappier

easy peasy!

now wrap that thang in wire and hot glue like you did the wire base and ENCASE the attaching joint in glue. like a mosquito in amber. that thing should NOT MOVE

then bust out your packing foam roll, cut a big long strip, and wrap that around the wire too, gluing it every few wraparounds

this will conceal the wire and make it look more natural once we have our feathers on. the packing foam is pretty transparent so you need to be mindful about concealing all the wire because the feathers wont do it all!

okay now youre basically done with the wire and you can move on

base foam

so now see this? do this with the packing foam (also pictured are the wire arms for the secondary pair. thats irrelevant)

but if youre making extended wings, DONT do it like the picture. this was a mistake of mine! and ill tell you why

(if youre making big folded wings that look more like the first pair i showed, you can basically disregard this part since your foam base will HAVE to be shaped like your final wing)

the packing foam is very transparent and, unless you want to be cutting feathers out until your fingers fall off, your feathers will be one sided

that means that this base WILL show in the end and your feathers will extend further out from it! so the part of your finished wing with the base on it will look much whiter and the part without will look weirdly transparent

this will look unnatural!

to fix it, we need to take another kwik peek inside bird anatomy

see those thick muscles on top? THATS what your foam base should look like

so instead of it being the final shape of a wing, it should only be about half of it

once you have all your feathers on, itll look much more natural if its thicker where a birds actual muscles are

but this is where your feathers will be attached, so it cant be too small

if youre making wings that look more like the big pair i showed first, your base will have to be basically the shape of the final wing because youll need to attach a lot more feathers. again, this depends on your wing design! just use your sweet little noggin on this part. you can figure it out I BELIEVE IN YOU

so anyway trace out the shape you want the base to be (again: for smaller wings, do bird muscle shape. for bigger wings, do the shape you want your final result including feathers to be)

cut out two of those and glue them to each side. now youve got your platform for feathers!

now here comes the most tedious part

feathers

this is literally the worst LMAO

youre gonna have to cut out FIFTY MILLION feathers from packing foam

they should be shaped kind of like this

straight on one side and curved on the other

i usually use three sizes (as you can see) and then at the end i fill in the gaps with some teeny tiny ones that i just cut from scrap

try to keep the feathers in the same layout that real bird wings are

biggest feathers on the outside, middle on the inside, small on the inner edge

for the top wings on my quad pair, i used about 3 big feathers, 12 mediums, and 9 smalls per wing side

in total, i used 4x those numbers

lotta cutting! my hands were HURTING after cutting all the feathers for the big wings. you dont even wanna know

anyway

glue those on with hot glue (starting with the biggest feathers on bottom) and make sure to use it on the coldest setting! if your glue is too hot, itll melt the thin foam

it should look something like this after the feathers are applied

this was before i applied the feathers to other side which is why it looks so transparent but you get the picture

now this last bit depends on how youre concealing your base but what i usually do to hide the top part is i make a middle section of feathers

so i just cut out a base of packing foam thats the width of the rectangle and then glue... feathers to it. duh

so here is the final result!

the bottom is being covered by a cape so i didnt do the feathers there

your wings will look different based on your design but this is generally how small extended ones will look

now the final part

straps

this one is really easy

just get elastic, measure how long you want it to be based on your shoulder + arm size and if youre doing it like backpack straps or if youre doing an X shape, and cut it out and secure it

make sure to be precise with your measurements or else your wings will sit wrong

you can also do ribbon, string, etc. it really doesnt matter

extra tips

1. if your wings are very heavy, you should secure them at the top with fishing wire so they dont sag

just string a long piece of fishing wire through a needle and kind of sew it through the packing foam to tie it around the wire base. make it longer or shorter based on how close you want the wings to be

this will keep them from sagging and bending out of shape (it only works for short periods though because fishing wire will stretch after too long. if youre wearing them for a long convention or something, use something more secure like a chain or just make smaller wings. or use a different method... wire is just gonna sag a little)

2. to give your feathers a more natural look, cut slits in them and bend them a little bit. you can do this with a heat gun if ya fancy but its not too necessary

3. if you used sharpie to trace anything and the marks are showing, cover them with packing foam scraps. you might be able to tell from super close up but since the foam is all the same color, it wont really show from a normal distance

4. if you want your wings to be a different color, spray paint them. you can also use acrylic for small details (you can see in the castiel cosplay picture i painted the edges of the little halo wings black to look singed)

OK THE END HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!