This time of year you can’t escape the holiday magic! You might wake up in the morning to find the world sparkling with frost or is it really pixie dust?? Maybe, just maybe, Santa isn’t the only one flying around the winter skies at night. What if we told you we caught Tinkerbell getting into the holiday spirit and we’ve got the proof? She’s the most festive fairy you’ll ever see and if you want to be her now you can! This tutorial will show you how to make fairy wings and faux fur so you can add a little magic and warmth to your holiday cosplay.
This Tinkerbell cosplay has been created and photographed by @itslorenia. Check out her Instagram to see more of her cosplays and keep reading to find out how to make Christmas Tinkerbell come to life (no clapping required, but believing is a must).
I did my own outfit design using a Christmas Costume from Costume SuperCenter, but you can use any Holiday dress as the base for this costume. The costume I used is available here and these are the shoes I altered for the look.
Materials needed for the wings:
- 15 ft of 12 gauge wire
- 5ft of thinner wire, something easy to bend
- Wire cutters
- Wire twisting pliers
- Spray glue adhesive
- Iridescent cellophane
- Paper bag from grocery store
- Tracing paper
- Permanent marker and pencil or pen
- Masking tape
- Fabric paint
- Q-tips
- Scissors
- Damp paper towel
Materials needed for faux fur:
- Yarn
- Scissors
- Animal brush – paddle style slicker brush
- Hot glue
Making the Wings
You’re first going to want to determine what you want the wing shape to look like as well as the vein design. I based my wings off of Tinker Bell’s wing seen in Disney’s parks. Tinker Bell’s vein designs can get fairly complex, but I found this one was on the simpler end and while still remaining accurate. You are welcome to create your own design if you want to experiment with creativity.
After you’ve determined the shape of the wing, you’re going to want to make a pattern for it. I used the length of a grocery paper bag to draw out my biggest wing shape. You can choose to draw something larger, but keep in mind the bigger the wing, the more support you’re going to need and this tutorial may not support the size of your wing choice. I drew a rough sketch in pencil and then traced over in permanent marker when I was happy with the design. Cut out the wing pattern when finished.
Trace your wing onto tracing paper so you can mirror the design of your wing when you get to the fabric paint step. Cut out the wing pattern after being traced.
Tape your pattern to the floor and taking your 12 gauge wire, bend the wire around the wing. You can tape the wire down to help keep its shape while you work on the rest of the wing. You may need your twister pliers to help shape the top of the wing. Make sure you leave one end longer than the wing is so you can wrap it around the wire to finish the wing off. You can snip off the excess wire from the tip, but keep the other end attached to the spool so you will be able to create the base.
Take the wire and shape it into a V shape. You want your V to be fairly long. This will be the base.
Repeat steps to create the wireframe for the other wing. Wrap the end of the wire around to close off the wing shape.
Repeat same steps for the smaller wing. Ignore the steps about creating a base as you already have one.
Securely wrap the wire around the small wing frames to attach them to the larger wings and base.
Cut out four pieces of cellophane large enough for each section of the wings. They do not need to be exact, you will trim them down later.
Take your spray adhesive and spray the back of one wing frame. Carefully lay it onto the cellophane. Press down once you have the correct placement.
Before you start drawing with the fabric paint on the cellophane, I highly recommend practicing first on a test sheet if you’ve never used fabric paint. For best control, I recommend keeping your hand on the table as you draw. Squeeze the bottle lightly towards the tip and go slow as you draw.
Once you’re ready to start tracing, take your pattern and put it underneath the cellophane and trace. If you make your lines too thick, you can use a q-tip to clean up the line. You can also use a damp paper towel to remove excess paint but do not use the paper towel for cleaning up lines as you may mess them up completely.
The fabric paint will take several hours to dry, but after it’s dry you can trim down the excess cellophane but leave about two inches left.
Cut out another piece of cellophane to place over the wing. Spray the entire front of the wing with the glue adhesive. Take your cellophane and carefully lay it on top. Press the cellophane onto the wire and smooth out the wig. You can see the difference of the top layer on the left vs no top layer yet on the right.
Repeat this process for the next three wings.
Once you’ve finished your wing, you can cut off the rest of the excess cellophane. You can glide your scissors up against the wire through the cellophane for a nice clean look. You will also need to make your base a little more stable. Take your thinner wire and wrap it around the base both at the top and the bottom. You will need to twist the ends of the wire to the base for it to stay put.
Next, take your masking tape and wrap it around several times to that wire you just added to the base.
Stick them into a bra and you’re done!
Making the Fur
I made fur to make homemade pom poms to stick on to my shoes. However, this method can be used for any of your fake fur needs. It is a time-consuming process but it generally looks better than most fake furs out there that you can get at the fabric store (and it’s cheaper!). If you use the same shoes I do for this costume, just be sure to cut off the bows before starting.
Start by wrapping the yarn around some kind of object several times (in this case, your hand). Keep in mind your hand might not always work if you want longer fur. For longer fur, you may want to choose a DVD or Blu-ray case to wrap the yarn around. Keep in mind you can always trim the yarn if you made it too long.
Secure the yarn by tying off in the middle.
Slide the scissors through the loops and cut at the ends.
It should look like this once cut.
Take your pet hair brush and brush out the yarn. It is optional and unnecessary for this project, but you can take a hair straightener and straighten the ends. You may like this look slightly better if you take this method and apply it for another project.
Fan out the fur on both sides. Cut off the excess fur if the length of the fur is too long. If you used your hand to wrap around the fur for, you likely do not have to cut the fur and can skip this step. If you used a DVD or Blu-ray case as I did for my fur, you will need to cut it so it’s not too big for the shoe.
Stack two fur pieces onto each other and hot glue them to the shoe. Fluff out of the fur into a ball shape and you’re done!
Christmas comes and goes, so after the holidays have passed, Tinker Bell slides back into her usual outfit. Get all you non-holiday Tinker Bell supplies here!
Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. You can find us on Pinterest too! Let us know what other costume tutorials you’d like to see!
