ribbon feather tutorial and headdress

there's a sale on ribbons t work at the mo, like half of them have gone down to 50p or even 25p per metre. naturally i bought loads! but then i was stuck with what to do with them...that's when i saw a post on feather crafts on pinterest which lead to a blog featuring handmade feathers made from washi tape. i just took the idea and made them using ribbon instead to make these:

 

to make one feather you will need: a tooth pick, ribbon twice the length of the tooth pick, wet glue (pva or similar), something to apply the glue with and scissors. note!: i found that satin ribbons or satin-like ribbons worked best as they don't just soak up all the glue like cotton-type ones.

ok! start with two bits of ribbon, each the length of your tooth pick, and get your glue and applicator (in my case a brush) ready:

 

then, spread the glue on one of your bits of ribbon, lay the cocktail stick on top so that it sticks out the bottom by half an inch or so:

 

put a little glue on top of the stick as well and then place the other bit of ribbon on top - pick it up and make sure everything is stuck together nicely:

 

wait a bit for the glue to dry, then cut the ribbon to make it look like a sort of long leaf shape:

 

last up; make small cuts into the sides of your feather at an angle, to make it look more like a feather and less like a long leaf:

yay! you're done! now of course you're left with a feather that you may not have an immediate use for...i made a load more of them and turned them into this cool headdress:

 

just add strong glue (i used my glue gun), thick ribbon (in my case grosgrain) which is long enough to tie around your head with a fair amount left over for a generous bow at the back, and then some. using the glue, stick your feathers to your ribbon, stick a bit more of the ribbon on top of this (so you don't have bits of cocktail sticks poking you in the forehead) and embellish with whatever you fancy - i used some fabric covered buttons. : )