DIY Feather Extentions

Materials Needed:1. Jewelry Pliars (the kind with the teeth are best because you can use them to take the feather extensions out once you are done with them.)

2. Micro Crimp Bead (the pictured clip has silicone in the center, this helps it hold the feathers better)

3. Piece of fishing line.

4. Feathers! Below are links to a few of my favorite shops to buy feathers from.

Jewel Candy Boutique – The pack on the right is from Maura at Jewel Candy Boutique on Etsy. She hand dyes the feathers herself and makes awesome color mixes. These are a great deal too.

Lamplight Feathers – Great prices, you have to buy a few more but it is worth it if you have friends who also want feather extensions. You can also use extra feathers to make Feather Earrings.

Beary Box – This shop has lots of the bulk feathers that are shorter and come in packs of a few hundred. Also they have the longer extension feathers for a good price. Shipping takes a little while but the product is great. This is also the shop that sells the Peacock Feathers I used in my Peacock Feather Earring Tutorial.

Quinn Johnson’s Designs – Quinn also dyes all the feathers herself and has the option where you choose your own mix.

You can find lots of other buying options on Etsy or you can find feathers at your local fishing shop. Many of the feathers used for extensions are the same type used for fly fishing.

First hold the feathers up to the hair to see where you want them to be. I usually place them towards the front and if you are putting extensions in your own hair it is easiest to do it right if they are in the front.

Pull back the top layer of hair depending on the thickness of the hair you will have to pull back more or less. On people with finer hair I have to put the clip lower down so it does not show through. Grab a small section of hair that is all from the same spot on the head. As shown in the picture above.

With your fishing line create a loop around the hair and then thread the two ends through the crimp bead. Once you have it as the picture shows pull on the ends of the fishing line until the hair is pulled through the crimp bead.

Once you have pulled the hair though the crimp bead, gently move the bead to the roots of the hair.

Once you have the bead at the roots of the hair begin feeding the feathers into the clip. Start with the feather you want at the bottom of the group.

Once all the feathers are in you are ready to crimp the micro crimp bead.

While holding the feathers in place with one hand use your other hand to grab the crimp bead with your pliars. Then crimp the bead. It will lay flattest if you make the smashed bead parallel to your head. As shown in the picture below.

Put the rest of the hair back over the clip and see how it looks! It is probably wise to buy a few extra clips so you can change the location of the feathers as desired. Some times they seem like they will look good in one spot and later you will realize they don’t. If you need to remove the feathers simply smash the bead the opposite way it is already smashed with the pliers.

There are lots of great places to put the feathers. The base of the hair line in the back. Or your bangs (see the first picture in this post). You can also place them in the hair right in front of your ears the pieces that fall out when you put your hair up. You will need to be creative in hiding the clip if you put the feathers where you don’t have a lot of hair. Good luck! Send me pics of your successes and fails