Use this feather duster painting technique to make cheap and easy feather duster wall art for any space in your home—customize using different colors!
Feather Duster Painting: Make Cheap Feather Duster Wall Art
I’ve been toying with what to hang on our big empty bedroom wall for a while, but art is expensive—especially big pieces of art. At our old apartments, we had a tapestry Mike got in Cambodia hanging over our bed. But it’s seen better days, so it didn’t make it up onto the wall in this bedroom (still figuring out what to do with it!).
I don’t really know anything about art, though, so I have a hard time appreciating it, especially when it is expensive. So I decided to experiment with a blank canvas, some acrylic paint, and a feather duster to see what I ended up with.
Since I have the coolest parents in the world, they actually let me paint my room using a feather duster when I was younger. But an entire room covered in bright red and metallic gold explosions would probably give me a migraine now, so a 24″ by 36″ canvas is about all I can take.
Here’s what I used for me feather duster painting wall art:
- 36″ by 48″ blank canvas—you can browse various sizes online here
- Three different acrylic craft paints, preferably in progressively lighter shades—I used navy blue, light blue, and metallic silver
- Ostrich feather duster—It’s important to get an ostrich feather duster, not a regular feather duster. Regular feather dusters create a stiffer-looking pattern and tend to shed!
- Drop cloth, latex gloves, paper plates, paper towels, scissors
And here’s how you can do it in only about 30 minutes.
(Remember to wear an appropriate mask while working with paints, stains, and finishes. Follow the directions and warnings from your particular brand.)
Step 1: Pour and begin painting
Start with your darkest color. I poured the navy paint onto a paper plate, dipped the feather duster in, and began blotting the paint onto the canvas.
I did not have a plan at this point; I just tried to make it look cool. I mostly used the feather duster to blot the color, but I also did a little dragging in swirly patterns.
Step 2: Add lighter color
Next I dumped the bottle of light blue onto the same paper plate and repeated the first step using the same feather duster. I wasn’t really worried about mixing colors since they were both blues.
Step 3: Let dry, then add silver
I let this dry for about 15 minutes and then poured my metallic silver onto a new plate. The feather duster was sopping wet with blue paint at this point, so instead of buying another feather duster, I just used scissors to cut off the tips (below, left).
Then I just blotted the silver paint on using no particular rhyme or reason. Are you seeing a pattern here? I think I even closed my eyes for part of it.
After a few hours of drying, I hung it up in the bedroom. I am so happy with how this project turned out, and it really helps fill up the empty wall space! Here is the empty wall…
And here it is after hanging my art!
For more thrifty paint projects, check out my posts on painted wine bottle upcycled into a bud vase, how to paint thrifted clay pots, and how to turn a tea tin into a planter.
This project was also pretty cheap—$40.32! Here is the breakdown:
- Biggest canvas at Michael’s (50% off coupon), total price $27.50
- Navy (40% off coupon), total price .89 cents
- French Blue (50% off coupon), total price .74 cents
- Pure Platinum (60% off coupon), total price $1.20
- Feather duster, total price $9.99
Pin my tips about how feather duster painting and how to make feather duster wall art!
