Wire and lace angel wings

When we built the new mantle, I had hung a couple of my paintings and a mirror above it.  To keep them secure, we anchored the frames to the stone.  Which was  a good idea, but wasn't handy for changing out the pictures for the holidays, and I felt that the pink roses were a little springy for Christmas.

So, I covered the glass of the two paintings with burlap, using two sided foam tape, then hung some hand  made angel wings over that.

I wanted one large pair of wire and lace wings for the giant frame that used to be the top of a Victorian door.

To make them, I used wire wrapped in raffia.  I thought that roughness of the raffia would be a good surface to adhere the lace to, I'd worried that the plain wire might be too slick.  I'm sure I could've made it work by either wrapping the wire in ribbon first, or stitching the lace instead of gluing, but I also liked the rustic look of the brown raffia under the dainty lace I was going to use.

I cut two pieces of wire the same length, and twisted them into wing shapes. leaving a tail on each to twine together in the center to connect the two wings.

This vintage, beaded, lace dress was from a thrift store for $5.  I cut the lining out and and roughly trimmed two sides of it to fit over the wire wing shapes.

Glue guns are rarely my favorite tool, but in this instance, just what I needed.  I glued the lace to the top of the wire in small sections at a time.

Once the lace was attached, I flipped the wings over and trimmed the fabric down to about an inch of excess.

Then, I rolled it around the wire and glued it down on the backside too.

I liked them as they were, but wanted some embellishments.  I added a few white feathers, and velvet leaves, to the center, and tied on silk ribbon to hang them from, then glued a faded millinery bloom over that.

The silk is tied to a small nail I put into the frame.

When they were hung, they were a bit wonky. I think a heavier gauge wire would prevent that. To keep the wings from swaying and looking like a pair of droopy stockings, I stretched them out and used straight pins to attach them to the burlap.  They keep their shape ok that way, but if I make another pair, I will definitely use a sturdier wire so there is  no droop.

The ruffled pair of wings is similar to the tutorial Dawn has for angel wings.  I did these differently, but it is the same sort of style.  Mine are layered with dyed crepe paper and more of the beaded lace from the vintage dress, then embellished much like the wired set.

I'd drawn  my own pattern onto cardboard and covered it.   Dawn offers a pattern and full directions on her site if you'd like to make a pair yourself.  Plus, she is just plain old, nice to visit.