KATIEDIDITS: May 2016

Here is something fun and easy for a splash of Springtime color. When I lived in Jacksonville, FL my cousin, who lived up the road, had peacocks. She had one male peacock which would molt all his tail feathers, when mating season ended. After doing all the decorating with peacock feathers her house could handle, she started giving the tail feathers to me. So, I made feather earrings, feather fans, and what not. My favorite feather creations were butterfly hair clips. They are so beautiful and easy to make. You could probably figure out how to make peacock feather butterflies on your own, but here are some simple steps and a few tips I have discovered. Happy Spring!

Materials you will need:
       4 peacock eye feathers; 2 large and 2 smaller,
       the pairs should match as closely as possible
       A hair clip that is hinged at one end
   A strip of black felt
   A small piece of green felt, approx. 2"x1"
Tools you will need:
   Scissors
   Hot glue gun and glue sticks
   White glue

Tip: Since you will have to buy your feathers, try to match the pairs as closely as you can. The feathers above are from Ricardo the peacock's tail. They are not prefect matches, but you will notice the smaller feathers curve in opposite directions. This means the feathers were positioned on opposite sides of the tail. Finding feathers that compliment each other in this way, will make the butterfly's wings more symmetrical. If you are buying your feathers in packages, you may have to search a bit and could end up with extra feathers that don't match at all. Luckily, peacock feathers are beautiful to have around and there are crafts that use only one feather.

Trim of the "eyes" of the feathers leaving about an 1/8" of the quill's stem.

I peel some of the extra bits of feather off to get a good cut.

Lay the feathers in "wing" formation and make sure that are good matches.

Using the green felt, cut a small leaf shape, on which your butterfly will sit.

Using white glue...

attach the hair clip to the felt leaf. Hot glue doesn't work well for this.

Hot glue dose work well tacking the end of the leaf over the hinged grip of the clip.

This makes the clip easy to grasp and pinch open. Make sure none of the glue interferes with the clip opening.

Now your leaf is ready for a visitor.

Find a good position for the feather wings, with the smaller back wings slightly over lapping the larger front wings. Keep the quill stems crossed for support.