How to paint feathers

This month, after three years of promising my daughter that I would up-cycle her chest of drawers (a bargain £40 from the charity shop - 100% wood, no veneer here and beautiful dove tail joints, without wanting to sound like my Grandma, they don't make them like they used to!) I finally got round to painting them.  Her new bedroom, purple wallpaper adorned with feathers and grey carpet were the inspiration...so out came the DecoArt Yesteryear Chalky Finish, Americana's in purples and greens, my trusty Vintage Rose kit and silver for a few feathers.  I'll be honest, I never painted a feather in my life but in for a penny, in for a pound I went for it. Worst case scenario? I'd sand and repaint it.   

I shared a few photos on social media and wow! Who'd have thought you'd all fall in love with feathers like you did.  You requested a tutorial and so I sat down last night and thought, how on earth did I do it.... Here are the steps I went through though I will say, if you have not begun your journey with the liner brush yet, this is a great project to try, it is easier than it looks and it is very forgiving.  

I have drawn out a few feather outlines for you to download here.  When you are practicing, I would suggest working with a smaller version first just to get the feel of painting them.  

You will need: 

Medium liner brush*

DecoArt Americana in your choice of colour (I used Dove Grey for the tutorial and Shimmering silver for the drawers) 

Practice paper*- I love working on black, especially for this project. 

Transfer Paper*

Dotting tool* (or something similar) to transfer the design.  

*All available as part of the Round Brush Starter and Flat Brush Starter kit

Transfer your favourite feather design

Step 1: Once you have transferred your feather onto the practice paper, using your liner brush, paint your centre line from the bottom of the feather to near the top.  

Tip: you may need to add a little water to your paint or Drying Time extender to help the brushstroke flow, especially if you are working on a larger feather.  

Step 2: To paint the strands of the feather, roll the paintbrush in the paint (as Carol teaches in her video here) to remove the excess before painting.  Although this is a very forgiving design, you want to avoid blobs of paint near the centre.  

Step 3: Start painting your strands working from the centre line to the outside.  Don't try to be too straight, don't think too much...the wobblier the better sometimes! As you can see, some lines are 'brighter' than others and that's ok too. It will all add to the finished look.  

Tip: Don't be tempted to flick the brush when you are doing this. Just like when painting Folk Art, always pull the brush and lift near the end of the brush stroke.  

Step 4: Continue working down one side of the feather. As you paint, try to change the 'wobble' in your brush strokes. This will give you gaps in the feather like a real one. 

Step 5: Repeat the process down the other side.   

Step 6: Now you have done the first layer, it is time to build it up.  For this I used a dryer brush meaning I did not add water to my paint and I kept painting brushstrokes even when there wasn't much paint on my brush.  Here is what my brushstrokes would have looked like without the finer ones underneath.  You can see they are much less thought out but just add texture to the final feather. 

Here is the finished feather. 

Note: As you get more confident painting feathers, you may find that instead of painting two layers, the finer brushstrokes and dryer ones will come naturally to you as you paint, that's fine, the effect will be the same. Like we always say at Folk It, it will all come with practice. 

Once you have mastered the feather, have fun and play with ideas. Here, I drew round a bowl, following the circle with each centre line and filled in both sides of each feather. 

There is so much you can learn using the same brushes and techniques taught in our kits, if there is something you want to try, go for it and if you aren't sure, get in touch or attend one of our workshops, we are always happy to help.  

I do hope you enjoy this tutorial, if you have any questions or have a go yourself, please leave a comment, we'd love to hear from you.  

Happy Folking, 

Toni x