How To Make A Beautiful No-Sew Feather Bird Mask

I love it when I’m challenged to come up with a cool costume for my girls and this beautiful No-Sew Feather Bird Mask worked beautifully for the Owl Costume I needed to make for the Just So Festival Tribal Tournament.

The idea came to me when my girls recently put on a circus performance. One of my daughters dressed in her colurful petticoat skirt and feather shoulder shrug.

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Watching her twirl around the garden with her petticoat flouncing behind her reminded me of a colourful bird. “Perfect,” I thought, “all I need to do is add a feather mask and we have our costume for the Owl Tribe!”

If you like this then you may also be interested in my other bird crafts; Egg Carton Bird Mask, Dried Flower Bird Craft, Easter Chick Craft and Diva Duck

Materials To Make The No-Sew Feather Bird Mask

You will need

• Face Paint – Colour to compliment feathers. I used snazaroo Sparkle yellow (UK amazon link, USA amazon link )
• Face Paint Sponge
• Fine paint brishes
• Feathers – I used a mix of guinea fowl, pheasant, and turkey feathers.
• Acrylic gems
• Child-Friendly tacky PVA glue (white glue such as elmers) or cosmetic glue
• Scissors (to shape feathers)

First Paint The No-Sew Feather Bird Mask Base

I was totally winging this mask so the first thing I did was pick a base colour from the petticoat skirt she was wearing and apply a t-bar of that colour facepaint to her face with a sponge. 

Next, using a fine paint brush I applied small strokes of other similar colours to the skirt around to the edges of the eye, over the nose and up onto the brow. I think when I do this again I’ll also take the base layer of paint all over the brow as it protects the skin a little from the ova glue.

If you don’t have feathers you could easily extend the brush strokes and make them denser so that the mask is only face paint.

When the face paint has dried you can then start gluing on the feathers

Glueing The No-Sew Feather Bird Mask Feathers On

Glue & Skin

What makes this mask so easy and beautiful is that the feathers are glued directly to the face but because of this it’s not necessarily suitable for all children as peeling it off can be a little bit sore especially around the eyebrows. On the plus side because pva glue is water based you can use a damp flannel to help gently peel off the feathers and the face paint also adds a thin protective layer.

I used a water based tacky (thick) pva glue to stick the feathers on with. I use the glue loads so know how it works and how to get it off.  

If you’re at all uncertain then buy a cosmetic/body glue. You don’t need much and there are plenty of products around. But because it’s around the eye area you must be really careful.

Gluing On The Feathers

I start with the top feathers that I position so they fan out gently towards the ears.

Under the eyes, I used really small feathers that I found on the underside of the larger feathers shaft. They’re easy to pull off and the perfect size for under the eye. Not all craft feathers have this though so you may need to source small feathers or cut larger ones down. I’ve used a mixture of  guinea fowl, pheasant, and turkey feathers that I bought from The Feather Factory

Adding Gems

The final step is to add a few acrylic gems just to add that bit of sparkle. You could also add some carefully placed coarse glitter but again be careful around the eye are if using glitter.

The gems can slide a little so you make need to reposition them a couple of times but it doesn’t take long for the glue to take hold.

How To Remove The No-Sew Feather Bird Mask

To take off gently use a fingernail and gently pull away from the inside out starting with the layer feathers. If you’re careful they will come away in one piece allowing you the easily use them again.

The eyebrow is the more difficult area, especially with young children. Do very small areas at a time and if necessary, place a damp cotton wool ball over the glue to moisten/soften the glue before removing.