Those of us who have tried stained glass before will tell you it’s quite a skilled craft, and can be expensive!

So next time you buy something boxed in hard plastic, don’t throw out the packaging, save it to make a beautiful alternative to glass feathers.

What you need:

Flat plastic – packaging or OHP slides are perfect for this
Acrylic paints
A soft paint brush
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Gold pen
Scissors

First, cut a feather shape out of the plastic. I did mine free hand, but you can also use a template from the web if you feel like you need guidance.

Take your glue gun, and draw on the detail of the feather. You’ll need a steady hand, and go slow so you get a nice steady stream of glue without too many bumps. Remove any irregularities or cobwebs.

Now it’s time to get painting! Start with a dry brush (don’t add any water as this can make the acrylic peel off when you go to paint on more layers) and paint on at least 3 – 4 coats of each colour. Wait until each coat is dry until you paint on the next. Once you’re happy with the colour and the feathers are completely dry, draw over the hot glue detail with gold pen, to make it pop.

If you find your paint too streaky, you could always add a paint medium such as gesso. I also found adding a bit of white to each colour helped achieve a more even finish than straight from the tube.

To make the feathers really opaque, and to fill in the gaps where the paint may be streaky, I spray-painted the back of the feathers gold – you could also do white or silver.

Make a hole in the top of the feather – I used a wood burnishing tool, but you can also heat up a safety pin and gently push it through the plastic. Beware of plastic fumes – always do this step with a mask and in a well ventilated area!

Attach each feather to a piece of silver chord with some matching beads to help weigh it down.

---

First created for Create and Craft TV