Peacock

Some time ago, while surfing the internet, I found this diagram of a peacock feather. For this tutorial I will be referring to the different parts according to this picture. 

 

We will start by making the feathers because this is the most time-consuming part of the project.

As a word of advice, make sure that you have plenty of paper!

All the strips will be 3 mm wide and in different colors and lengths.

FEATHERS

Each feather has several parts. 

Eye pattern

 

For each “eye” you need to cut paper strips of the following colors:

blue/metallic blue: 10 cm long

pale blue: 10 cm long

mustard: 15 cm long

green/metallic green: 20 cm long
 

Glue the strip in the order given above.

Roll the long strip into a loose closed coil, starting from the blue/metallic blue end.

Shape into an eye/marquise.

Make 29 more. In all you will need 30 eyes.

 

*** My recommendation is to make a few extra in case you need them. ***

Close knit barbs

For the close knit barbs you will need different lengths of green/metallic green color strips.

Cut 60 of each of the following (more if you are making extra eyes or if you have mishaps):

7 cm, 8 cm, 10 cm, and 12 cm segments. 

 Fold each segment in half. 

Now you will work each eye the same way:

Step 1 for the close knit barbs: 

 

In ascending order of lengths, glue each strip to the eye. See the picture. 

 

** Note:  Only glue each strip to about the half of the eye.

Step 2 for the close knit barbs: 

 

You will be working in descending order of lengths.

  Glue the 12 cm folded strip to the eye, making sure that you make a little “handle”.  See picture below.

 


Continue to glue the strips in the following order: 10 cm, 8 cm, and 7 cm.
 

As you glue the strips you will see that you are starting to form the Narrow brown stem. However, in our case it will be green.

Loose barbs

 

Cut 120 green/metallic green color paper strips into 10 cm segments. (You will need  4 for each feather.)  Cut more if you are making extra eyes.

Fold each segment into a “V” shape.

Glue about 5 mm from the bottom.

Insert each segment into the other according to the picture.

Once you have glued all the segments you will have the finished feather. 

Follow the same procedure for each feather. 

White stem

I painted each stem with tan color acrylic paint to make them look more realistic. However, you can skip this step if you wish. 

 

Congratulations!!!! You have finished making the feathers. 


 Now we will proceed to make the other parts you need.

WING

 

Cut about 30 strips 15 cm long green/metallic green paper, a few extra in case you need them.

Roll them into a loose closed coil.

Shape them into teardrops or eyes/marquise.

Glue them to make the shape of a wing. 

 

EYE, HEAD, BEAK AND BODY:

 

EYE

Glue a 7 cm long white paper strip to a 6 cm long black strip of paper.

Starting from the black end, roll the strip into a tight coil.

 

Roll a 35 cm long white strip of paper into a loose closed coil.

Shape it into a crescent. 

 

Wrap and glue the crescent around the tight coil you did in the previous step.

 

HEAD

Make two 30 cm blue/metallic blue loose closed coils.

Shape them into an eye/marquise

Wrap and glue them around the eye.

HEAD COILS

Cut 6 strips 10 cm long color blue or green.

Roll 10 cm into a tight coil (glue the end of the coil)

Fold the other 5 cms in half and glue to make a “stem”.

 

Glue these coils together according to the picture below.


 

BEAK

Roll a 30 cm long white strip of paper into a loose closed coil.

Shape the coil into a triangle. 

 

BODY

Make two 60 cm blue/metallic blue loose closed coils.

Make one 35 cm long blue/metallic blue loose closed coil.

Pinch them according to the picture. 

 

ASSEMBLY

Glue the beak to the head.

Glue the shapes that you made for the neck and body. 

Glue the green shapes you made for the wing.

Glue the feathers to the body. 

Continue gluing to form the tail's "fan"


 

***As you glue the feathers, trim the stems as needed.***

Glue the head coils to the head.

Congratulations!!!!! You have finished your project!!!!

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 NOTE

If you want your peacock to have a metallic glow and you do not have the metallic-color paper strips, this is an extra step that you might want to take:

 Apply colored glitter glue to the parts you already have.

How to apply glitter glue to the shapes.

Take a dab of glue on your index finger.

Gently tap your index finger with the glue on the shapes.

 

Allow the glitter glue to dry. 

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Your project is ready to glue onto a background and frame!

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Thank you for visiting me and I hope that you enjoyed the tutorial.

♡*.¸¸.* Happy Quilling! *.¸¸.*

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