DIY Painted Feathers

I’ve always loved the idea of painting fake feathers, and with festival season underway it seemed like the perfect time to do it.  I originally thought of these purely as decorations but then it occurred to me that they’d be a great finishing touch for a festival outfit. This is a great activity to do outside on a warm sunny day, and once you start it’s slightly addicting!

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What you need: fake feathers, paint (I used acrylic paint), and a paint brush.

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I got this paint from Utrecht and I love it.

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I added a little bit of water to the paint before applying to the feathers, and they absorbed the paint almost like watercolor. I love the way the colors bleed into each other.

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After the entire feather was covered I added some dots and lines with white paint.

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Get as creative and colorful as you want with the feathers!

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I wanted to add in some of the smaller brown feathers to my arrangement, so for those I kept it simple and painted them in colorful ombre shades.

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Arrange your feathers on a wall as beautiful spring artwork!

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Another idea: Stick one in a fedora for an awesome festival look.

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You can also use jewelry wire to attach a feather to a bag as a cute, boho charm!

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Bag pictured: Diamond Stud Crossbody.

More DIY Projects from the BLDG 25 Blog!

Photos by Julia & Brigette.

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Charlotte
11 years ago

These are beautiful, great for sprucing up a room!

Xx http://worthwakingupfor.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/out-with-old.html

Katie
11 years ago

So beautiful as decor! Where can I get fake feathers? Really don’t want to buy the real ones.

Terri Sweeney
1 year ago
Reply to  fp julia

Hobby Lobby $1.99!! There were 6 wonderful white feathers.

Beth
10 months ago
Reply to  Katie

I have yet to find any “fake” feathers. The ones in the craft stores are usually turkey feathers. I love this craft idea (it’s gorgeous), but as a vegan I can’t/won’t use them. I am going to try and make handmade paper feathers instead. If anyone finds 100% faux vegan feathers, let me know. ;)

Cloud
2 months ago
Reply to  Beth

Hello Beth. I’m vegan too. I often pick up feathers on walks and use those in my dreamcatchers. We rescued some hens from slaughter last year too, and now they have the run of the garden and live happy free lives. They are beautiful white hens and often shed their feathers, so i use them too. These are ethical ways to get feathers that sit nicely with the vegan culture. So you can do it too.

11 years ago

Ohmygosh this is sooo cool! The feathers look so pretty after being painted. I might just do this for the fun of it! ♥

sartorialust.blogspot.com

baxton
11 years ago

yeah, I don’t think those are fake….but you can cut vinyl or leather into the shape of one and then add fringe by cutting into your ‘feather’

11 years ago

So super duper cool!!! I need to make a few of those!!!

Meghan
11 years ago

This totaly caught my eye this morning.
They are like works of art. Love!

http://happinessiscreating.com/

11 years ago

I do this for the dream catchers I make ;)
Xx
Taylor
http://www.forsurejadore.com

Terri Betz
11 years ago

Wonderful! Thanks for this post! Off to paint feathers! :)

11 years ago

Love this, so cute!

11 years ago

Wow those look so gorgeous, I must do this now!

Sarah
11 years ago

Yeah, the feathers shown in those images are real, not fake… why would Free People lie about using real feathers? It’s obvious they are real.

Sarah
11 years ago

Oh and I should have said that I love this post and the DIY idea… I just meant to point out the weirdness that FP would say they used fake feathers when it’s very obvious from the downy base and the shaft of the feather that they’re definitely from real birds.

AC
11 years ago

It’s so cool !
OMG I love your rings ! where did u get it?

11 years ago

Love it!!!SO inspiring!!!xxx

http://www.oneoblivion.com

11 years ago

such a lovely idea and so fun!

wanderingsofalittlesoul.blogspot.de

Billy
10 years ago

Hi was wondering if the paint makes them hard?

10 years ago

Some great ideas here! I already paint feathers and sell them in my etsy shop (mostly for hair accessories), so some tips for other people who are new to this is to definitely mix the acrylic paint with a lot of water. You can always use several watered down layers of paint over one another to achieve a color. It gives you more steps to do, but it really helps if you want to avoid a hard and separated feather.

10 years ago

These are so pretty. What a lovely idea.

NEgan
10 years ago

I love these!
How long did the paint take to dry? And did you wait for the paint to dry between colors?

Ashley
10 years ago

I’ve been trying to find feathers for forever now! I can’t seem to find the right ones. Is there any online store i can order it? I’ve already tried looking at Michael’s :/

Amanda root
10 years ago

Great spring break project with my daughters!!

Amanda root
10 years ago

Ben Franklin had great white feathers…

Jules
10 years ago
10 years ago

So pretty! And i love all the ideas of ways to use them

10 years ago

Definitely going to try this with my dreamcatchers! My store is eenk.etsy.com if anyone wants to take a look at some of the designs I came up with.