The Avariel (making the wings) 

unlike many cosplays ive seen, this one actually looks realistic. You clearly understand how the wing works and put time and effort into making it.I would gladly pay 900 $ for something like that. you earned my full respect man!

Wow! You are crazy dedicated and crazy creative and crazy clever! Those wings are easily the most beautiful I've ever seen!

These are without a doubt the loveliest wings that I have seen created thus far. They looked very beautiful and natural, and you looked natural with them I must say! Well done!

So awesome! I need to favorite this, as I am looking to make wings for a Devil costume in the future. I can't believe how beautiful your wings turned out! Simply PERFECT!

perfect! Amazing job! It's great to see someone with so much dedication make something beautiful!

you make me want to continue trying to improve and make wings again! Such time and work put into theses. I love how you added your research at the beginning [I did the same, not always applied]. Brilliant work! I cant wait to see more.

I have no idea how I got to this vid :) Glad I found it. You carry them very well and your poses look great. What a fantastic job! Thanks for posting.

You can tell you spent alot of time on this. I just want to say, your awesome and I respect the amount of time and work you put into your hobby.

Wow.. those are unbelievably stunning. ^_^ I've been a big fan of the Avariel for many, many moons, and love that you've depicted one of the most beautiful, yet one of the least known fantasy races so gorgeously. ^_^ HUGE kudos!! And nice posing, too! It's great to see that not only can you engineer a gorgeous pair of wings, but you know what to do w/them, too! ^_^

Just stunning! the details..things that most seem to forget, like the arch of the wing. just...amazing all the way around!

That is beautiful! I can't imagine the intensive work and planning that went into them. I think that it was certainly worth it! They are stunning.

That is the most amazing Wings I have ever seen. Drop dead amazing looking. And of course the Beautiful Angel too :P

That was outstanding! Nice work, that looked like a true labor of love.

1500 dollars and 5 years of planning. That's dedication to the craft. Congratulations on a stunning piece.

Amazing!! I'd love to see more of the mechanics and materials you used for these. They are lovely, truly a fantastic job!!

I half expect you to take flight!!!!!! Really, they are beautiful. This is the best cosplay that I've ever seen!

The amount of work and dedication to make these magnificent pieces of art is truly impressive.

This is breathtakning, it's just, amazing, the dedication

So very frightening that you were in an accident. I am glad that you seem to be doing well, and I wish you speedy recovery.

Those are amazing! Looks like you had a blast :D

Truly a stunning piece of work!

so many people have dreams and imagination , but never see them through , absolutely stunning to see creativity implemented and achieved , fantastic :)

wow you're really pretty and good job i really loved the magical part about the wings!!! really inspired me 8D

These are the most beautiful wings I've ever seen! I so want to make them. =D I bet it was an awesome project to start and complete.

Hi Rachel, Awesome job. Lovethat you posted the plans as well. Thanks for sharing your talent and skills

This really is the most beautiful costume I've ever seen. I saw her at GenCon when she debued the outfit. It really inspired me to start crafting outfits for LARP. I've been planning wings ever since.

Thanks for the quick response. You've inspired me to look at more areas of creativity. Spent time at Michaels, and looking for feather suppliers. Thanks again. Luv, lite, and laughter

Both your wings and the costume as well are amazing! I hope the wings I'm going to attempt come out as well as yours. :)

It was really fun. The best part of it was seeing the looks on kids faces when they saw dreams come to life! Great message to share with them!

Holy Moly!! Talk about a labor of love!! Those are hands down, the coolest costume wings I've ever seen. Eat your heart out, Victoria's Angels!! I considered e-mailing you for instructions for one brief moment. Then I saw the picture go by, mentioning the $1500 cost and 5 years of planning. I like costuming, but I don't have your supreme dedication!! LOL

That is truly incredible. Amazing job.

the wings are so pretty! well done!

I'm currently designing my own for an angel cosplay, but i doubt they will look as AMAZING as yours.I admire how much hard work you put into making your wings!

absolutely incredible.. im attempting my first set of wings for a Skarmory cosplay and this is just so inspirational. its awesome to see what people can come up with when they apply good ideas and hard work :) watching this is 2015 and still the best set of wings ive seen :)

wow, that costume is so amazingly beautiful

And here I was, looking how to make some wings for a LARP. Gives me a slight idea where to start. Beautiful artwork, very inspiring.

An Avariel graces us mortals with her angelic presence. Wonderful work. Now, lets see....a Drider!

I'd really love to see them in motion, and more on how you make them move - the structure is certainly very clear in the earlier parts of the video. I've been knocking around ideas for something very similar off and on for maybe 5 years, and while I've come to different structural solutions for several items, I can hardly hope to make anything as beautiful as your wings! They are entirely stunning.

Amazing job. I can really see that taking five years, since it's a very major project for one person to be doing. The research alone must have taken a very long time.

you're the definition of beauty, i love it so much

You are amazing. I hope the best for your recovery. Take care.

Stunningly beautiful! I now have the overwhelming urge to cosplay a character with wings!

The best thing is that these wings were 8 pounds and built on a frame with TONS of padding! :) Comfy. I could (and often did) wear them all day at the convention. :)

Rachel, those wings are just fantastic !!!, I just looked over the internet for How to.... and wow !! Your wings are just a real bird moving an looking type, I read too about your accident, and Is great that you are Ok!!, Please when you feel fine and full recovered give us the chance to do our best work to achieve a great pair of wings like yours, I ´m a dreamier and my head is full with fantasy, How I wish to have those conventions in Mexico, My best wishes for you.

Very nice work indeed and I would not be surprized that others out there in TV land copied your hard work! Anyway, the true sign of a great costume is being able to use it in 'real' terms. This costume not only looks realistic but you can move in it like you actually have had wings forever! That is more than well done!! Thanks for showing your work! I do hope you get credit for all this as well, and I hope you keep creating, perhaps work in the industry with your great imagination! Cheers, from a fellow artist in Canada. Vicki

Simply Beautiful!!!!! the wings were cool ;)

These are fantastic! Well done :)

Fantastic! What a great work!

Awesomely nice wings!Good job!

I can't stop listening to the song, it's so beautiful

I find these wings absolutely stunning. I'm not myself a fan of Articulated wings, due to the limitations with arm movement, and am following a pnuemetic system, but that aside, the simple layout and aesthetic quality of these wings are INCREDIBLE. You really did your research and put incredible care into the layout of the feathers. That alone is a HUGE inspiration and the ability to see this for myself is a great help!! So many wings out there could be so amazing even without motion simply by putting the effort and research into understanding the layout with the same detail as the costume itself. I've seen great cosplays ruined because you just cant stop noticing the terrible wings. Its the same with wigs, but these things are overlooked as less important. I am -really- impressed with what you've done with your Avariel wings, andthankyou so much for this as it will make a great resource for my own wings. I'm making a pair for myself and a friend doing Krad and Dark from DN Angel, so wish us luck :D

Awesome! Exactly what I was looking for. I will be building an Avacyn costume over the next few years and her wings are very much like yours only white!!

I made a pair of wings before too, and it's amazing to bring your creation to life, but I can't believe you actually went and got all these feathers....

You have amazing talent. and I think you for sharing this work of art

Thank you so much! I really had no clue where to look for them. I know where to get most everything else because my dad works construction. Thanks! I can't wait to work on them!

PLEASE let us know as soon as your website is done. These are some of the best articulated wings I have ever seen and I would love to see a step by step tutorial!

I am surprised red bull didn't call you for a commercial, just kidding. All joking aside, I do crazy costume projects too, and this was a brilliant moment of genius. They are stunning and very life like, you study of wings is movie effect quality. Congratulations on a labor of love, you deserve all the best. I hope you won the costume contest, cause you earned it.

Your wings are absolutely stunning! I am in awe. :D I would love to be let in on the "how to" of it.

Thank you! I actually made this video to help others, such as yourself out at that task. I was also in the process of prepping to help teach "Wings and Things", a group of fast sessions to help others understand how to make wings, but a few months before this class happened I was in a car accident and almost died! Since then I have been on the long road of recovery. I would like to offer a more detailed tutorial, but can't. What I can do is answer questions. I hope this helps! -Rachel

You have no idea how long it took me to find this video and I am so happy to see this video wasn't lost I wanted to ask and I hope this isn't too much to ask but if you could you think you can make a step by step DIY video on how you made your wings I know there's other videos that make wings but your wings will always be my favorite number 1 on my list so if it's to much I would love to learn how you create such an amazing master piece

Absolutely stunning! :O

perfect! You are an artist!

An incredible creative project. Very artistic. Best wishes on your health.

Damn! All the skills, you have them.

ok, one: those are amazing! you look like you're about to take off and fly away any second! two: you got to go to gen con?! that's like my dream! T^T

absolutely stunning!!!! :))

BEST wings I have ever seen on youtube, :D

Oops. I'm stupid. I didn't look at the other comments. But now that you say it was a cord, I kinda have an idea on what you did. This is so cool! I've been wanting to make a pair of Dragon wings for a cosplay. Thanks for helping me figure out the structure! Your work is the best!

Thank you. I have no idea how many I used. About $3,000 worth. I ordered a few, tested and measured them, drew up a design and measured the surface area to cover, calculated the surface area per feather and used that to see how many I needed. It worked! I only needed two orders. As far as lengths go I have long 24"+, medium ~10") and a bag of almonds (2"). Hope that helps!

Wow, such complements! Thank you very much! -Rachel

Oh. My. God. ITS YOU. You're like, some sort of cosplay god to all of the fanime goers I know. xDD If ANYONE mentions wings, the 'winged elf.. angel... forest angel... forest fairy...' comes up. I have to say I completely adore your wings! They are the best I've ever seen!

I only have one thing to say.. oh my giddy aunt those are gorgeous!!!

That is AMAZING!!!!!!

**laughs** An Avariel fighting a Drow. That made me giggle. Nice work on the wings.

Rachel, I have to say your wing design is inspired. Honestly, It is superior to many of those I've seen built for film and TV use. Your use of aluminum screening is positively inspirational. Assuming you're still reviewing comments on your video, I wanted to ask you some questions which I don't believe have been asked: How much force is required to move the wings in either direction? How far do you have to pull the lines (fishing line?) in order to fully deploy the wings? How much time does it take for you to safely deploy / retract them? How does the application of force change over the course of deployment (do you apply more force at one time than another)?

@SammyXxMonster Good attention to detail! Yes, the shirt has two slots that run down the back, from mid back to the base of the shirt. These slots are lined with Velcro to stay shut everywhere a wing isn't.

Wooooah... I've seen the pipe skeletons for these... but what you did with that basic thing... wooooaaahhh!

I was skipping little by little but froze when I saw the completed product and you in costume. ho. ly. COW that's amazing!!!!!!!!!

Thank you! I studied bird wing anatomy and feather layout to make them. Glad you noticed!

Thank you. The dream fuels me.

Absolutely stunning... I don't think you'll have an equal until it becomes possible to make actual wings with living tissue for people...

truly lovely!

Hi Alexandra, I used aluminum screening for the wing "muscles" or "Skin" and wove the flu (feather's hard tail) into the screen. I then gently constricted the screening around the flu and glued it in. In the numerous years the wings have been in existence I believe I have yet to loose a feather! (It works)

Thank you! Erika, the wings extend through a pull chord system I built. The chords dangle from the small of my back. When I want to extend them, gust grab and go!!

это... это просто ВЕЛИКОЛЕПНО! просто потрясающе!

These are way awesome, but there's no way I'd ever have the patience to place all those feathers lol. Great job!

Agreed, and agreed. Thank you! This just shows that if you chase your dreams, you can (most likely) achieve them. Kind Regards, -Rachel

Thank you for your kindness.

simply AMAZING!!! :D

When I see the picture of you wearing the wings, I thought you were really going to take off flying!! >

Sounds like quite a project! I don't sell plans because I didn't make them for this costume. I did post this, however to help guide others who want a pair as to how to do it. Also, I'm always happy to answer questions that come up. Best of luck! -Rachel

*Blushes* I dare say, that's the single best and amazingly kind complement anyone has ever given me. Thank you! As with all cosplayers - it is a simple love and a passion to create, and it is to some of those self-same cosplayers that I owe the wings - while the rest I can claim, the flag-holder idea came from a cosplay website! The long feathers are 24" Golden Pheasant Tail Feathers.

Thank you, Helia. They open with a pull string (fishing line). It is hard to see because it is translucent. That, plus a hinge on each wing. Hope that helps!

Beautiful!

Thank you for the explanation! You are right in that this is my character but in D&D the Avariel are a winged race of elves. I used the name "Avariel" to show respect.

Epicly cool and so beautiful. Also practical they can fold down I suppose because I've seen cosplayers struggle with narrow hallways with large wings.

Phenomenal!!! I'm working on some devil/demon wings w/full movement and the ability for them to come alive and curl a bit from 'elbow to wing tip. No feathers though, wowza! the grace, beauty, and look was very fitting for the woman wearing them.. Thanks for posting, sweet

II kinda remember them having white wings... but I still love the look of these and the outfit to go along with it! ♥

Amazing, well done :D

oh wow these are beautiful a job well done =)