My friend Kimberly told me a while about that she had made peacock feathers using wafer paper. I was intrigued, so I immediately ordered a package. And there it sat, for months and months, until I finally needed to make my Gatsby inspired cake for the recent photo shoot we did. It was so easy to make I thought I would share with you my loyal readers.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
1. Wafer Paper
2. Picture of your feather
3. Parchment paper (for tracing)
4. Marker
5. Scissors, Exacto knife, or Razor blade
6. Cutting board or surface
7. White wire
8. Tylose glue / Sassie Sap Glue
The first thing we need to do is get our feather pattern. I used this image and enlarged it to the size I wanted on my iPad. Then I put my parchment paper over it and traced the basic shape of the feather with my marker.
Now that we have an image to cut, just place your wafer paper over the parchment paper. You can see right through it! Just cut it gently with your Exacto knife on the cutting board. The wafer paper cuts easily and with a light hand you won't even cut through the parchment paper.
Pop out your feather and place it back on the cutting board.
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| Don't draw on YOUR feather! |
I made these lines on the wafer paper with a pen, but these are for illustration purposes only. These lines just represent how you will cut the blades of the feather.
These spring loaded sewing scissors work pretty well, they make tiny cuts, but I found it a little hard to get the cuts deep enough into the feather.
A very sharp Exacto knife goes more quickly and allows you to vary your cuts. Keep cutting the blades of the feather until your done with both sides. If you get a couple of jagged edges, it's OK - it's a bird feather!
Now it's time to ruffle some feathers! Just thumb through the blades to separate them a little. More if you really want a rustic look!
Now your feather is almost finished! To put on the cake I used some white wire to go the length of the feather (with some left over to insert) and I adhered it with a little Sassie Sap sugar glue or some tylose glue.
If you enjoyed the tutorial, leave me a comment here and let me know - and don't forget to stop back in next week!
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Thank you so much for the tutorial. I have always wanted to make one feather and I had no clue how. I have to order some wafer paper soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
I've been wanting to try this technique but with rice paper from the Asian food market. Looks amazing! Great job thanks for s
ReplyDeleteHi Candi! I wasn't sure if rice paper and wafer paper were the same thing, but I know they're similar. I bet it would work just fine on rice paper too. If you try it, pop back in and let us know how it works, OK?
DeleteIt wont work on rice paper you'll end up shattering it, its actually pretty thick
DeleteThese are gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteThanks Amber!
DeleteThanks for the great tutorial! Chiming in on Candi's question, I have cut shapes from both rice paper and wafer paper, and wafer (potato starch) was much easier to work with. It was almost like regular paper. My rice paper cracked and shattered easily when cut dry, and got gummy when lightly dampened. But rice paper is easier to find locally and less expensive, so its good for quick projects with the kids, with simple shapes (they color with food markers and I cut them out).
ReplyDeleteThank you for this tutorial, it is very helpful! :)
ReplyDeletei saw another tutorial using piping gel to stick the wire on but it didnt stick - i will try the tylose glue.... does it matter which side of the paper you use, smooth or rough?
ReplyDelete