DIY Process for Unique Fairy Wings: Iridescent Prism Shaped Wings

This year we start to dive into the most unique Fairy Wing Designs available to DIY on your own, and how exactly to DIY these unique desigsn! We will be starting with the Iridescent Prism Shaped Fairy Wings that I recently utilized for an Ice Fae/ Jack Frost Fairy look this last year. The wings are very light weight and fun to wear. The iridescence on this set of fairy wings is gorgeous in person and very striking in photography; all the while using a fairly limited number of materials and small amount of your time to create. While I used these wings for an "Icy" look, they are excellent for other fairy and anime inspired looks as well. The coloration and iridescence can be altered by choosing different iridescent and shimmer papers in combination, so don't be afraid to experiment with the look!

Some of the materials may need to be ordered off the internet in advance, so we are going to dive right into the materials list, and I will also include links to the materials that I recommend using for this Fairy Wing build.

Materials Needed:

• Printed and cut out Prism Wing Pattern
• EVA foam of 2mm and 4mm thickness EVA foam I usually buy from Amazon
• Xacto knife
• Heat Gun 
• Heat Adhesive Iridescent Sheets (I chose a blue-purple iridescent)
• Conact Cement
• Gauged Wire; I recommend 12 gauge steel (unless for childrens wings, then you should subsitute aluminum)
• Packaging Tape
• 1 or 2 rolls of Sparkly Shiny Gift Wrapping paper in color of choice

Step 1:

Print your pattern through this link or the one at the top of the page if you have not already. Gather all materials. Cut out the printed pattern precisely, notches included.

Step 2:

 Lay pattern piece one out on your 4mm EVA foam and mark with either a white colored pencil, chalk, or through lightly applied pressure (with a pen or seam ripper). Repeat this step for pattern pieces 2 and 3 on 2mm EVA foam.

Step 3:

Cut out your pattern precisely, notches included. Be sure to cut 4 of each pattern piece.

Step 4:

Score the connecting sides of each foam pattern piece, where indicated on the pattern. An example of "scoring" is below.

Step 5:

Lightly score along the length of each prism piece where indicated by the pattern, use one long, very, very light cut for each indicated section.

Step 6:

In a well-ventilated location, use the contact cement to join the pattern ends to themselves where indicated by the pattern on each individual piece. Repeat with each piece. Follow the manufacturer's instructions on the contact cement: generally you apply the adhesive to both locations you wish to join, wait a short period (10-15 minutes, or until the adhesive no longer looks gloopy but instead shiny). Once you have closed all pieces to theirselves with the joining ends, you will have 12 small pyramids.

Step 7:

Now with the gauged wire, bend a triangle slightly smaller than size of the base of the largest pyramid, leaving a long tail like length of wire to work with. Poke this long length back through the center of our triangle so that sticks straight out and away from the center of the wire triangle. This will serve as our attachment to your wing harness.  Repeat this step for the second set of large pyramids. Next make 2 of same the wire triangular attachments that will fit in the medium set of pyramids and a set for the small pyramids as well. 

Step 8:

Set each wire triangle attachment inside of the pyramid so that the long tail is poking into and then through and out of the tip of the pyramids. Gently pull the protruding tails of the "attachment triangles" until they are lodged well into the 6 pyramids and as much "tail" is protruding as possible.

Step 9:

Once the individual pyramids are fully dried and set, apply contact cement at the flat side 'base" side of each pyramid and wait for the contact cement to turn shiny. Once the contact cement is ready carefully match each side and corner and then slowly apply one flat side to its match on each matching pyramid size, and then the corner and next side until you have a complete prism/diamond shape. Repeat this step for each pyramid set. Once you have applied each base to its match you will have 2 large prisms (diamonds), 2 medium, and 2 small prisms. 

Step 10:

Using your pattern pieces to guide you, cut 12 corresponding pieces of the base color gift wrap you have chosen. It helps to add a small allowance of 1/2 an inch on each of the three sides of the pattern to ensure there are no gaps in coverage.  I used a shimmey silver iridescent paper for my base. 

Step 11:

Wrap your prisms in your cut gift wrap pieces, matching them to matching sides, and taping as sparingly as possible.

Step 12:

Using your pattern pieces one last time, cut 12 adhesive iridescent pieces.

Step 13:

Using the manufacturer's instructions and your heat gun (don't forget to peel the backing on your iridescent adhesive paper!), patiently apply the iridescent paper to one side of a prism at a time. It is useful to start at the middle with the heat gun and work your way out. The adhesive usually changes coloration just slightly as it adheres, in my case it become more opaque. 

Step 14:

Attach each prism to you wing harness of choice, using the little wire tail at each end. I recommend starting with the top (the largest) set of prisms and working your way down the bottom (smallest prisms), adjusting as needed to ensure the wings are evenly spaced with one another.