If you're looking for a cute 15 minute craft, look no further than these fun, frayed, feathers!
I started making these feathers as ornaments for my Christmas tree, and I loved them so much that I wanted to make a framed feather for a year round decoration.
Here's what you'll need:
- A Ruler
- Your favorite color of chunky yarn.
- Thin yarn works fine as well, but it doesn't fray as easily and you will be doing 100 more
steps.
- A Picture frame.
- For this demonstration, the measurements are made to fit into a 5x7 frame. You can alter the
measurements to make much bigger feathers as well. I encourage you to play around!
- Scissors
- Wide tooth comb
If you want to doctor up your picture frame you will also need:
- Glue
- Gold Leafing
- Coarse Paint Brush
Step 1:
Measure out and cut a piece of yarn 12 inches long.
Step 2:
Measure out and cut 22 pieces of yarn at 4 inches in length.
Step 3:
Fold over your 12 inch piece, and fold two of your 4 inch pieces at the bottom.
Step 4:
Lay your long piece on top of your small piece on the left, and lay your other small piece on top of the long strand.
Pull the ends of the left piece through the loop of the right, and vice versa so you have what looks like the picture below.
Step 5:
You want to pull the strands as tight as you can, two inches from the ends of your long piece. You then want to tie your end pieces in a knot to help prevent any slipping.
Continue up your loop 10 more times (11 total).
Step 6:
Take your wide tooth comb and comb through the strands to give them a feathered look.
Your comb will catch the strands and try to pull them out of all the knots you so diligently made. The best practice I have found to do, is to lay the side of your opposite hand along the strands you are not combing and press down on your table firmly. Hopefully this will keep your knots from moving anywhere.
You can choose to trim up your edges after you've combed through them to give it a more clean look, but I like the imperfections of it. However, if there is a strand that came undone or is just way out of place I will definitely fix it.
Picture Frame:
I like the weathered look, so there is no need to be a perfectionist with this.
Simply apply glue sporadically along your picture frame and lay down your gold leafing.
Let it dry for a good 15 - 20 minutes, and take a hard bristle paint brush and forcefully "scrub" off the excess leafing.
Place the back of your picture frame, and either glue or pin your new feather into place.
I like to take the glass out because I think it is a barrier between you and your craft. Taking it out gives you a more raw and intimate connection with your new artwork.
