I have been making these birds for years, filled with organic, hand-picked garden lavender. They can be hung as a light pull or work well as car charms, with a lavender waft with each squeeze. I will soon be making a new batch and so researched as to whether there were small, crafted bird beaks already made to buy, to save me the time of making them. It turns out my felt bird beaks are definitely the best beaks about and so here is how to make a felt bird beak.
These felt bird beaks are so easy to make, they are just time-consuming and as with any mass production, it's really boring when you're making 100 at a time. Felt squares come in every colour imaginable, but here I am using a dark brown as these are for my little gifty robins.
I am making 100 here and so I started by cutting felt stripes roughly 15 mm (1.5 cm) wide. Roll up the felt square and cut into the roll at the width of your desired beak plus a bit extra to allow for trimming.
Unroll the felt stripes and cut them into triangles. It doesn't matter if they are not even, once made they can be trimmed to be all the same, but I prefer each beak to be different, it gives character to each birdy face.
Although making these beaks is easy, it is very fiddly and when they are this small, as for my robins, they are a pain, but extremely effective once on the bird.
(Please excuse my grubby fingernails, I had been in the garden all morning!)
Here is where it gets fiddly! Fold the little triangle in half and holding the point of the triangle, add a dab of hot glue into the fold. It doesn't matter if it is messy, as it will be trimmed later.
The purpose of this glue is to harden the felt on the edge it is to be attached to the bird and once folded and squeezed together with metal pincers it will have a hard, thin edge ready to attach.
Remembering the glue is very hot so avoid touching it at all costs. I use pliers to pinch the hot end together, it will seep out, as seen in this photograph. I pinch the glue as tight as I can, which leaves a mark on the felt. Once it is trimmed this marked edge will be invisible. This picture also shows that the glue doesn't fill the whole beak, just the end for attaching.
At this point, there may be gluey string everywhere, but that's ok, it'll all clean off
in the last trim.
Here is the little beak, all trimmed, held by the beak point, with the folded edge along the top. Using sharp, strong scissors cut the gluey end and remove the little glue strings, so the felt is pristine, with no glue showing. I make birds from wool, so it is very easy to part the wool strands to insert the beak, attaching it with hot glue.
Depending on what your beak is to be attached to, it may be necessary to make a little slit, for the beak to be poked into. That's your call but with the hard edge, the beak is easy to trial different ways of attaching.
Here you can see there is no glue inside the beak, but instead, it is a nice, full-pointed shape, so much more interesting than just a simple, flat felt triangle.
To attach the beak, ( I am right-handed), hold the beak with pliers, except for the hard edge, ensuring you have good control of the edge to be glued. Apply a thin line of hot glue and instantly (it sets quickly), attach it to the bird, parting the
wool or inserting it cleanly into a groove. Maybe if inserted into a groove, put the glue instead in the slit, then push the beak into it, it would be easier to control.
Here are four beaks to show the different angles you cut the hard edge, so the beak points up, down or straight. A long slim felt triangle will give a starling-type beak, long and thin. But a fat, short felt triangle will make a fatter beak, like that of a finch. The length can be adjusted when you trim.
Here is one of my lavender-filled light pull birdies, with a shiny new beak!
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