Ronghua Tutorial: How to Make a Silk Robin

This charming silk robin is handmade with delicate raw silk, carefully shaped and layered to create soft, feather-like plumage. With its warm brown, off-white, and orange tones, the little bird has a gentle, lifelike appearance while still keeping the character of a handmade piece. Each one has its own subtle details and personality.

Preparations: What You’ll Need

If you’ve purchased our Ronghua Toolkit, you already have everything required!
If not, prepare the following tools:

1. Bristle brush (Medium to soft hardness)
2. Flat iron (the one you use to straighten your hair)
3. Tweezers
4. At least 2 pairs of Scissors
5. wooden sticks / pencils / chopsticks
6. Hair spray or diluted white glue (1:2-1:3 with water or alcohol)
7. Big clips (around 15cm)
8. Twisting boards and wooden blocks (for even tension)
9. Anti-slip powder (optional but helpful)

Full Tutorial Video

Begin by untying your silk threads and locating the knot at one end of each bundle. Carefully cut the knot open and ensure all strands are straightened. Group and prepare your silk bundles according to the specific color requirements needed for your project layout.

Each silk bundle is composed of many tiny individual strands. Align these strands carefully and tie them around a small stick or pencil, ensuring the ends are perfectly flush. Keeping the lengths even is vital for a consistent texture during the brushing process.

Proceed to group the threads into distinct rows. You will need to prepare separate rows for the multi-colored components and delicate thin silk strips. Ensure that each row is organized according to the specific sizing and color transitions required for your project layout.

Attach your silk rows securely to a stand or a flat surface. Using a bristle brush, comb the silk thoroughly from top to bottom. Continue brushing until the silk is completely smooth, fluffy, and free of any tangles. If the silk becomes static, mist the surrounding air lightly with water.

Brush it until it looks like this:

When you feel that the silk is brushed enough, secure its tail with another big clip to your table or anything that can help stretch it taut. Take out one copper wire from the folded end of the row and straighten it. Twist the folded part into a spiral of about 3 cm. Clamp the silk threads between two copper wires and twist the opposite side tightly. Pull both wires taut and continue twisting until they merge into one.

Remember, the twisting direction for the left and right end are opposite.

The spacing should be the same as shown in step 1. You can watch our video tutorial for this step:)

Using a pair of scissors designated for silk, trim away the excess thread from the row ends. Cut through the silk exactly in the middle of each wire twist to separate the row into individual silk strips. Never use these scissors on copper wire, as this will dull the blades and cause the silk edges to fray.

Lay each silk strip on a flat surface and ensure the copper wire is perfectly centered.

Twist the wires by hand to tighten the grip on the silk, then place the strip between two twisting boards. Roll the boards firmly to twist the wire until it is tightly embedded and nearly invisible within the silk.

Trim the silk strips into shape for the bird's feathers.

You will need ten feathers for the wings and two distinct feathers for the tail, along with one special tail feather shape. Apply Nan Pao adhesive along the edge of each feather and arrange them together (the first feather sitting lowest and the second highest, with five feathers per wing) to complete one pair of wings and the tail.

Take the clay included in the kit, roll a small piece into a ball for the head, and a larger piece for the body. Adjust the sizes depending on whether you want a plump or slim bird, join the head and body smoothly without sharp angles, add extra clay around the belly and wing attachment sites, smooth the surface, and leave the clay body to dry overnight.

Secure the raw-silk rows onto a stand, plug in the mini iron to heat up, and divide the raw silk into small sections. Use the mini iron with one hand pulling the silk straight to straighten it, brush gently, and repeat until smooth, fluffy, and straight.

Separate each group with copper wire, cut them away from the row, and trim both ends so they are neat and even across all colors.

Draw guidelines on the dry clay body (upper brown section, lower off-white section, beak dot, and wing spots),

cut a slit at the back, glue and insert the tail.

Now we can begin applying the brown and white plumage. Prepare a small wooden stick and use it to pick up a little adhesive. Spread the adhesive over a small area of the bird’s body rather than covering a large area all at once.

Take the brown raw silk and cut it into pieces approximately 1 cm long. Brush a little adhesive onto the base of each piece, then gently push the silk forwards so that the ends form a smooth, even transition.

Try to cut every group of raw silk to the same length. Continue attaching the remaining groups in exactly the same way, taking care not to let the raw silk extend beyond the guideline we drew earlier.

If a group of raw silk is not positioned correctly, gently remove it with tweezers and attach it again. Once the brown raw silk reaches the point shown in here, you can pause.

Next, begin attaching the off-white raw silk to the lower section using the same method. Keep the pieces as consistent in length as possible.

 

The raw silk must be attached from the back of the bird towards the front. Working from back to front allows each new layer of silk to overlap the previous one neatly.

Remember to cover all the small corners and edges as well. It is very important to keep every cut group of raw silk as consistent in length as possible.

Attaching all the raw silk does take quite a bit of time, so please be patient and work through it slowly.

A robin has a patch of orange feathers across its breast, so we need to leave this area uncovered for the orange silk later.

Next, we can prepare to attach the wings. First, use the mini iron to give each wing a gentle curve. Place the wing against the body and check whether the curve fits the bird’s shape. If it does not fit closely, carefully adjust it with the mini iron.

 

The end of the wing should not extend beyond the tail, so trim away any section that is too long. Apply adhesive to the inner side of the wing, then attach it firmly to the bird’s body.

As you move towards the front, pay close attention to the direction of the silk. All the silk should fan out in a radial pattern, converging towards the position of the beak.

Attach a layer of raw silk over the front edge of the wing to cover the join, then continue attaching the brown raw silk.

Stop when you reach approximately the position shown in the video.

Next, finish attaching the remaining off-white raw silk. I recommend extending the off-white silk slightly farther inwards than I did here. If the off-white area is too small, the pale feathers will not be visible enough from the front, which can make the bird’s face look larger, like the example on the left.

Use a little more off-white silk and bring it slightly farther towards the front.

 

Now we can begin attaching the orange raw silk. Start with the darker orange shade and continue with it for about two layers. Then switch to the lighter shade to create more depth.

In the reference image in the upper-left corner, you can see two shades of orange on the bird’s breast. I forgot to change colours while filming this tutorial, so make sure to switch to the lighter orange after the first two layers.

Arrange all the silk in a radial pattern so that it converges towards the beak.

I used a little too little off-white silk and too much orange, so the orange feathers ended up covering most of the head. This makes the bird’s head and face look quite large. Using more off-white silk will help avoid this.

All the raw silk has now been attached.

For the feet, cut floral wire into 5–6 cm lengths (eight pieces),

wrap white elastic thread around them to create jointed toe textures, divide into two groups of four, bind together, singe fuzzy edges with a lighter, and brush with blended brown and black pigment powder.

Carefully trim the raw silk body with sharp scissors from multiple angles until smooth and even. Make holes for the legs near the back of the body with tweezers, adjust length, apply adhesive, and insert them securely before bending the toes into gentle curves.

Fold cardstock in half, cut out small triangles for a two-part beak (with a slightly smaller lower half), glue them onto the bird's face, and color with a marker.

Deepen tail and wing colors with brown and black pigment, blend blue pigment around the orange raw silk, 

and insert eyes horizontally level with the beak using a touch of adhesive for a secure hold.