Paper Maché Angel Wings

A few years ago, I decided I wanted to make a pair of angel wings for the wall.  I went onto Pinterest and looked for angel wings to find a pair whose shape and style I liked.  I also found a picture of wings someone made with cardboard.  They were paper machéd.  They were speaking my language!

Then one winter (2 years ago?) we bought a flat screen television, which came in a very large cardboard box.  I have a hard time throwing out large pieces of cardboard.  I decided it would provide the perfect base shapes for my angel wings.  I sketched out a shape on paper and then traced it on the box, then cut them out with a sheetrock knife.  I wanted them to be somewhat life sized.  

My flip flops are in the picture above to give you an idea of how large they are.  

After cutting them out, I dithered for a long time about how to best shape the feathers. I dawdled and dawdled.  I put the small box of cardboard feathers in the basement and forgot about it for a while.  I thought about it every time I passed it while heading for the washing machine.  I promptly forgot about the project as soon as I headed back upstairs.  I killed months this way.  

Then I just decided to get on with it.  Who knows why this happens.  I guess I just decided to stop procrastinating, or I decided that they didn't have to be PERFECT.  Perfection will kill your creativity every time. I plugged in the glue gun and got moving.  

I posted a few pictures on Instagram...

And I ran out of cardboard.  I decided to use a few priority boxes from the post office.  I wanted my cardboard pieces to be all the same thickness so they would be more uniform looking after they were paper machéd.

Before gluing on the final rows of feathers, I attached a wire through the base cardboard to make a loop across the back (see it in the above picture?) to make it every easy to hang them on the wall when complete.

I even loved how they were looking BEFORE they were paper machéd.  I had originally intended to give them to my daughter to hang in her room but when I started them, she said, "IEWWW, no, I don't think I want that in my room."  It was somewhere around this point when she realized that they might turn out ok, and she asked me what color I was going to paint them.  She said, "well, maybe I'll take them for my room..."  HAHA, yes, mom knows best doesn't she?

The paper maché stage was tedious!!  I had the make the paper relatively small, and make sure it was wedged snugly around each feather so that the shape of each feather still stood out.  My only criticism with this whole project is that I started out with one type of paper towel and I finished with a different type.  Up close, the texture of each wing is different. One type of paper towel worked much better for getting into the corners.  I wish I could remember which was which, but you'll have to decide for yourself which type you like better.  I usually use Bounty, but in this case, I think it was the cheaper, thinner less textured brand that worked better. 

One wing almost done...

And above, two wings done.  See the difference in the relief of the feathers? for the one on the left, I wet the paper mache again and pressed it down in the spots where it was too flat.  It worked a bit, but not as well as those other paper towels.  

In the picture above, the wings have been coated front and back with a coat of white acrylic paint.  I didn't want them to be able to absorb too much gold paint when I painted it on in the cracks and crevices, and I thought this would help. I outlined each feather and then gave both wings two coats of  Mod Podge. 

Finally ready to hang!  As you can see by my 4 foot ruler, they're pretty large.  Now I have to find a place for them, since they really should hang together, and my daughter hung up something else in the spot she had for them.  I'll find somewhere.  I love them!  

What do you think?