Cosplay/Costume Tutorial:

Foam Wings

Hello everyone!  Let's start Arbata's first tutorial... even though it isn't the first thing I've made that I took WiP shots of. :P

To start, collect up your materials.

What you'll need:
- Scissors
- Xacto Knife, or similar precision cutting tool
- Foam sheets (these can be found at any craft store, and any big box retailer that sells crafting supplies, I got these ones from Walmart)
- Cardstock or similar paper to make a pattern (I recommend cardstock as it doesn't crinkle or bend as easily)
- Ruler (a tape measurer works too)
- Pencil or pen (I used a colored pencil so the lines wouldn't be as visible on the foam and it was easier to sketch)
- Elastic
- Thick wire
- Cutting surface (you want a surface that you can cut with an Xacto on that won't get ruined)
- Glue gun (the school glue pictured MAY work to hold the pieces together, but I wouldn't recommend it)

Secondly, you want to have an idea of your pattern well in your head.  You'll need to make an armature for the wings so that they sit on the back properly without moving around.  A simple sketch like the one above is perfect, as you can see I only used stick figures (a lot of my designs are far more involved than that, lol) and I even went so far as to eyeball measurements.

What I ended up doing is measuring the space between the shoulder blades of who I was making it for to figure out roughly how far apart I wanted the wings to be, and then how far from the back I wanted them to stick out... and then completely ignored most of those measurements and just used my pattern to figure out if they were the right size. lol

Next step is to sketch out your pattern.  This is actually the second one I did, as the first one didn't quite match up to the way the ponies wings looked.  You want something that won't be too difficult to cut out, without really losing the concept of the original design.  I promise that reference pictures are absolutely your best friend and please don't be afraid to scrap a design and start over if you don't like the original.

You will need two patterns in total.  A big wing as the base and smaller feathers for inside.  You can see here where I sorta sketched out the idea of what I wanted the whole wing to look like in the end.  I used two pieces of card stock for my pattern, one for the big wing and one for the little.  To make the little so that it fit perfectly on the big one, I cut out the big one first and traced it onto the second piece of card stock so that I could draw the little one in.

This may seem like the most arbitrary or the most obvious step, but make sure once you cut out the pattern that the wings look RIGHT on whomever you're making them for.  If it's for yourself or someone who isn't nearby, then use whoever is nearby... like poor Etheric here.  He was my dummy, and there's nothing he can do about it.  This is a step that's super easy to skip over or forget about, but it has to be one of the most important.  The last thing you want is to get everything put together and then put the wings on only to find out they just don't look right.

Once all that silliness is done, you want to put your patterns on the foam so that they maximize as much foam as possible.  In this picture I lined up the bigger wing against the pre-cut edge, but didn't do the same for the smaller wing.  The other three smaller wings I liked their flat edges up with the foam's flat edge because that makes more sense then whatever I thought I was doing here.  Obviously possessed at that point in time, I don't know.

Then take your pencil, pen, marker, or whatever you happen to be using and trace the pattern onto the foam.  There will be some marks left over on the finished wing, so be careful about what you use exactly, unless you don't care about the marks... then carry on.

Cut out your wings.  I cut them out with regular scissors first and then used the Xacto for precision.  Here you can see the giant blob that's one of the wings, and me posing my Xacto in a way that no one should ever hold their Xacto ever.  I'm a rebel with no concept of what's dangerous apparently. (To be fair, I use an Xacto every day, so I'm a bit reckless with them).

I have a special cutting board specifically designed with Xactos in mind that I cut my wings out on, but any sort of surface that can take the damage can be used.  Just keep in mind that Xactos are VERY sharp and WILL cut whatever surface you're using them on.  My board in this picture I actually turned over because the front has tape on it that I didn't feel like removing because lazy.

You will want to cut a total of six pieces.  Two larger wings and four smaller ones.  The big one are the base and the little ones will go on either side of the base.  Trust me when I say you want this, if you try to go too small, cutting them out will be a pain and they may get too bulky.  Three layers is all you need.

Next you want to make the armature.  The armature is what will hold literally everything together, so its design is important.  A squared off U design with those extra long pieces onto the wings are what I've found works the best.  It keeps the wings from spinning around on your back and keeps them in a nice stiff location.

The lower part of the U was decided by using those measurements I mentioned before.  In the case of these wings, it was four inches long, as that was how much space was between the shoulder blades of whom I was making them for.  I then measured the flat edge of the wing (got 2 inches) and how long the smaller pieces of the wings were for the part that actually goes into them (3 inches).  This is by far the hardest part of the wings, and I can say for sure because I messed up cutting the wire twice before I got the right length.  Add the numbers together (don't forget that there's 2 wings) to get the whole length of wire you need and bend it as fits. (3+3+2+2+4=14.  So my wire was 14in long).

You want to use wire that's thicker and heavy duty, but isn't difficult to bend by hand.  What I used was thick jewelry wire that I also got from Walmart that was also clearanced, so thrifty spending FTW!

I can't stress enough how much double checking you should do before you make anything permanent.  I took the bent wire and held it up to the person's back to make sure it would look right before I glued anything.  Once I was satisfied, I then moved onto the next step.

I bent the wire a little bit out, so that the wings once glued would stick out from the back and not lay flat.  I then took my glue gun and glued the first bit of wire down.  You don't want it directly against the edged of the wings, or the foam won't be able to sandwich together very well.  If you don't have a glue gun, I suggest investing in one, because I'm pretty sure any other type of glue won't hold the wire onto this.  Also, don't worry about the glue melting the foam, if you put too much in one area it may make the foam have weird bubbles in it, but it won't right out melt it unless you put the tip of the gun against the foam itself.

Leave a little bit of the wire armature out at the bottom so you can attach the elastic to it later.  I also suggest gluing wider elastic under the secondary piece, but if your elastic is thin like mine was, you can see what I did further down.

Next, add the second piece.  Do the one covering the wire first to make sure that the wire isn't visible.,  How to glue it isn't really as important, except for making sure the seams are sandwiched together well.  Once again, leave a little wire visible so you can be flexible with your elastic.

Here you can see I didn't do a good job at sandwiching the seam.  What I did is I just put the glue gun right into the seam and pushed it closed, running my finger along the hot glue to keep it flat and smooth because I guess I can't feel heat in my finger tips either.  If the glue is too hot, use a piece of card stock scrap to remove the excess or you'll have glue everywhere... especially because it's hot glue that that stuff strings like CRAZY.

You'll want to repeat the last step to add the smaller feathers to the non-wire side as well.

Now, I used left over elastic from party hats for my mom's 50th birthday, but really anything works.  I made sure that because the elastic was so thin, that I ran it along the seams of the wings where they were sandwiched together, but if you have thicker elastic you'll want to glue it underneath one of the smaller feathers at the top.  The bottom portion of the elastic will be tied, glued or sewn onto the lower part of the U, right where it curves.

And viola!  Once that is done, you have completed your wings!

Oh!  And most importantly, don't forget to try the finished product on and take a picture in your bathroom in the mirror that you should probably remember to clean before doing such things!

<3 Arbata