Helmar helps Charity Wings Organization take Flight!

Why so long since I posted? Well two weeks prior to CHA my hubby's assignment out of town got postponed! Which meant I could go to CHAW 2012! So I left him with the kids... However prior to that I went from having a few things to do for my bookstore and my daughters B-day to having an ever growing list of to-dos. The great thing about it though was that most of them were creative projects and art.

This post is about one rather large project! I built functional angel wings to donate to the Charity Wings Organization. I may not have been able to do these wings justice but Elena sure could...

Here I am in the Helmar Booth with the wings open and closed.

Here are the three people who made this a hit at CHA!Elena Lai Etcheverry, Tracy Weinzapfel Burgos, and myself in the middle. This is during the Live from CHA interview Elena had with Tracy from Helmar USA.

First lets take a quick look at the construction of the frame work... Supply list:

• 1 - kids back pack (up-cycled in this case from last year)
• 2 - 1" PVC pipes 2' long
• 1 - piece of hobby board
• Nuts and bolts and some brackets
• 1 yard of white strap (from a fabric store) (it shows black here but for this project I switched it out to white)
• 1/2 a yard of white the cheapest white fabrick to cut the shape of the wings
• Wire
• Tools to cut the wood, pvc pipe and fabric to the right shapes
• fishing line
• and of course some HELMAR USA glues - I used Acid Free and 450 Quick Dry.

Now lets talk about decorating it.  hundreds of hand made feathers from old books and pipe cleaners... 5 feather boas and some sparkle ribbon, gems, and fabric... and of course Helmar 450 Quick Dry and Premium Craft Glue.

To make the feathers I took the twist top off Helmar's Acid Free glue and diped the pipe cleaners all the way to the bottom of the bottle. Pulled them out and layed them on one book page then snadwitched them with another on top. Pressed down to get the glue to connect both pages together with the pipe cleaner in the middle and then let them dry. After this I cut them into shapes of feathers. Leaving the pipe cleaners sticking out to help glue them onto the wing's frame.

 And then there was the building of the box my hubby took care of that.

Perfect fit. I hope you enjoyed a sneak peak!

How did they hold up? Well they were worn for four days by one person or another, extended over 100 times a day, they also were danced in during the Charity Wings Flash mob... See video below there are some of our Helmar Hotties in that mob too) and on the dance floor at the CHA Carnival dinner. They are still in such good condition that they are boxed up and Charity wings will be using them during other events they host and possibly displaying them at  their booth CHA Summer 2012.

 

 Have a Happy Helmar Day!

Helmar Design Team Member

Comments

[ConnieM]

I don't understand hy you don't have a 100 comments on this project~it is amazing and spotlighted your ability as a designer~awesome work Grace!!!

[Water Storage Tanks]

pvc pipes
wow thanx for good tips......

[Jennifer Evans]

I can not believe how incredible these are! Grace, you really made art history... so blessed to work with such amazing talent. Hugs!

[Karen Poirier-Brode (Ladydoc)]

Grace, those wings are amazing! Thanks to Helmar for the glue. You did a lot of work to make this fantastic wing art. Your wings were a definite highlight of this CHA.
I think some of those Flash Mob aprons are still available. Interested folk should check at CharityWings.org.

[Doris Widder]

Oh wow! The wings are amazing! Fabulously constructed and gorgeous!

Love the flash mob video...the wings really made it that much more awesome! :-D