I love using feathers in my creative projects and today I am sharing five of my favorite ways to use a feather in creative projects!
Living at the beach I am always finding feathers and while I love them- sometimes they can need some cleaning up. I've found that soaking them in a little bit of dish soap and water works great!
I think my favorite way to use feathers is for sketching inspiration. I teach a lot of sketching classes and feathers are actually one of my favorite examples for demonstrating how to use lines in a drawing.
I love using a feather as a stamp! Simply cover the surface with acrylic paint (using a brush or a brayer) and press firmly into your surface and then pull it away. The result is a beautiful imprint of your feather. This is a great way to create a feather pattern on a surface,a way to add layers to a painted background or just a creative alternative to traditional stamping.
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Gelli printing is one of my favorite ways to create really unique surfaces. I start by inking up the plate and then I press feathers to the surface. Next, I place my paper onto the surface of the plate, roll my brayer over the backside of the paper and then peel it away.
The result is a beautiful and abstract print of the feathers!
If you use a brayer in your mixed media painting you will know that your brayer can actually pick up texture and you are able roll that texture from your brayer onto paper.
I start by placing my feather into wet paint and I roll my clean brayer over the top. Then I roll my brayer onto a clean surface- the result it a really light reverse imprint of the feather.
Painting feathers is a really beautiful way to transform something from nature into a colorful little piece of art! Since feathers tend to absorb paint you have to use a fairly thick layer of color to get everything covered. I've found that spray paint actually works really well.
Then you can add all kinds of embellishments with a variety of materials- paint pens, glitter, puff paint, beads and more!
17 comments:
Wow! Thank you for inspiration!
Fabulous - you share the coolest ideas :-)
Such great ideas for using feathers creatively! I will definitely try the gelli printing. Thanks for inspiring me.
Jane
www.texturetrail/blogspot.com
Wow! What a difference. I have found that the feathers i use ....usually turkey feathers actually repel water and paint not absorb them so I use fabric softner on them first and that helps alot......just sayin'... Maybe seagull and turkey feathers are different? Hugs! deb
gorgeous...
You have such great ideas! Thanks so much for sharing,
Deb
I love the painted ones - they would make a great addition to a hat!
LOVE!!
I love all. This is a big inspiration. Thank You.
Gorgeous projects!
If you would like the feathers to go back to their original shapes after washing, put them in a pillowcase and knot it tightly, then run through the dryer on a normal or delicate setting. I make feather lei, which is a Hawaiian ancient craft and that's how we prepare our feathers when they need to be cleaned due to lice, mites, etc. Turn the pillowcase inside out so the seams are on the outside, otherwise you may have some escapees from the bag. The dryer doesn't harm the feathers.
Love seeing your examples of how you use feathers.
IN LOVE with this so so much!!
impresionante!
Hello dear beautiful soul! I love this article, it's so inspiring! You just gave me some ideas of what do to with some feathers I have around my studio somewhere waiting to be CREATIVELY used. :)
PS. I found you on TAM's page digging for LIFE BOOK 2015. I still hope I'll squeeze some money and be able to participate!
hugs and much love,
Cristina Parus
so wonderful feathers!!!
Oh my good this looks so great. I love the ones with the stamp and the brayer. I really have to do this.
Love,
Nina
http://ninaitwanina.blogspot.co.at/
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