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plumage

Started by Ser Niall, June 28, 2012, 09:02:49 AM

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Rowan MacD

#15
Quote from: Delireus on June 28, 2012, 06:05:57 PM
While they won't be the big ostrich ones you want, I've found that Hobby Lobby and Joanns have cool feathers combined with other types of feathers, on a metal stick, which can be added to a hat easily. I've bought a nice green color from Hobby Lobby, in the floral section, that had 3 pheasant feathers with some black shiny...uh, rooster feathers? I don't know what sort the smaller ones are, but they look like the tail of a rooster.



 In Hobby Lobby,look for feathers in the Floral section instead of the Crafts.  Crafts sells individually wrapped, rather small (about 10-12" max end to end, including the 1" quill) feathers for 3.99+.
   Go to the floral section and you can get large 18" ostrich feathers in a decent selection of colors and mounted on wires for 2.99.   They are easy to cut off of the excess wire,  and the reinforcement is handy when you go to glue them into a decorative aglet to mount on your hat.  
 The combo sticks with mixed feathers are in the same area.  
What doesn't kill me-had better run.
IWG wench #3139 
19.7% FaireFolk pure-80.3% FaireFolk corrupt

Ser Niall

Quote from: Rowen MacD on September 20, 2012, 05:32:18 PM
Quote from: Delireus on June 28, 2012, 06:05:57 PM
While they won't be the big ostrich ones you want, I've found that Hobby Lobby and Joanns have cool feathers combined with other types of feathers, on a metal stick, which can be added to a hat easily. I've bought a nice green color from Hobby Lobby, in the floral section, that had 3 pheasant feathers with some black shiny...uh, rooster feathers? I don't know what sort the smaller ones are, but they look like the tail of a rooster.



 In Hobby Lobby,look for feathers in the Floral section instead of the Crafts.  Crafts sells individually wrapped, rather small (about 10-12" max end to end, including the 1" quill) feathers for 3.99+.
   Go to the floral section and you can get large 18" ostrich feathers in a decent selection of colors and mounted on wires for 2.99.   They are easy to cut off of the excess wire,  and the reinforcement is handy when you go to glue them into a decorative aglet to mount on your hat.  
 The combo sticks with mixed feathers are in the same area.  

Checked out Hobby Lobby, I didn't think we had any around here since I've never seen one, but there happens to be one sort of by my office.  Went over there on my lunch, they did have quite the selection of ostritch plumes and peacocks.  For some reason, their black plumes were a lot shorter than the other colors, so I didn't get any.  I did pick up some reds, greens, whites, and creams, along with some peacocks and rooster feathers.  Thanks for the suggestion.
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.

gem

I'm bumping this thread up to see if anyone has new resources for feathers--specifically the Ostrich plumes. I recently came across Lamplight Feather, which seems to have decent prices and quite a lot of useful information. Has anyone ordered from them before?

But my real reason for resurrecting this thread is to talk about working with feathers--selecting them, caring for them, attaching them to things, etc. I know you can hot glue them together into the little cone holder things, but what about applying them directly to the hats? I'm working on a very feather-heavy hat project, and am a Total Feather Novice.

Any advice appreciated!

Gramercy!

arbcoind

I will second MGs recommendation of fancyfeather.com.  I recently ordered and received some very nice feathers in several lengths and colors.

Gina

bookwench

I get my feathers from http://www.featherplace.com/.  Good prices, fast shipping.  I use their wholesale site, but their retail side is just as good. 

As for working with feathers,  you can hot glue them, but when the feather eventually wears out, you'll have to try and rip all that glue off of whatever you've glued it to.  I try and sew my feathers as much as I can (although sometimes its just not possible, I admit).  Doing a sort of blanket stitch up the feather shaft works well to hold it in place (vs just doing a whip stitch around the base of the feather). 

Lynn McMasters also describes a great idea called a swing tack to keep feathers from catching in the wind too much - http://lynnmcmasters.com/OstrichPlumes.html.   

Good luck on your project!
"I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn't itch." -G. Radner

gem

Thanks, Bookwench--that ostrich plumes article was perfect! (I did have to hunt for it, though--go to her home page, click on Articles, scroll all the way to the right, and find the photo of the woman in the huge pink Edwardian hat, and click "How to Create Ostrich Plumes." (There is a similar photo on her home page, but it won't take you to the feathers article.)

QuoteThe swing tack is the same stitch tailors use to keep linings in place but also maintain some slack, basically a chain stitch.

I recognized that tack the minute I saw it! ;) That's a great idea.

arbcoind

I've glued and wired feathers together without great results.  I never thought to sew them together.  I'm going to try that. 

Gina


gem

Quote from: bookwench on July 10, 2013, 08:42:44 AM
I get my feathers from http://www.featherplace.com/.  Good prices, fast shipping.  I use their wholesale site, but their retail side is just as good. 

Do you know how they size the feathers--if, say, a 13-16" feather includes the shaft? I'm guessing that it does, because that seems obvious... but I'm looking at an ostrich feather from a hat I bought at Fair, and it's 14" of feather fronds. The bottom part of the shaft has been cut off, and I have no idea how to guess what the "original" size of the feather might have been.

bookwench

It does usually include the shaft, but quite often the shaft isn't very long.  You usually get a variety of frond sizes in a batch.  Every once in a while you get a real clinker (long shaft, few fronds), but I've found that to be fairly unusual.

Quote
Do you know how they size the feathers--if, say, a 13-16" feather includes the shaft? I'm guessing that it does, because that seems obvious... but I'm looking at an ostrich feather from a hat I bought at Fair, and it's 14" of feather fronds. The bottom part of the shaft has been cut off, and I have no idea how to guess what the "original" size of the feather might have been.
"I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn't itch." -G. Radner

gem

Excellent, thank you!! I looked at feathers locally today, and Joann had theirs attached to looooong wire stems. Hobby Lobby had the best selection, at $4.99 each for decent (12-15") sized ostrich feathers (I guess the drabs? The smaller fluffy ones). Hoping they'll go on sale in the next few weeks.

New question! I'm trying to get the most bang for my buck, of course, and I've been reading up on layering feathers, etc. I'm making a giant Saxon-style hat with a big ring of white plumes all around the circumference. I'm wondering if I should go for more large feathers to fill in the circumference, or if I should double up on layering the feathers so each plume looks thicker? I probably can't afford to do *both.*  Which will have the most impact (keeping in mind that you really only see the ends, and from below)?




bookwench

I made a hat similar to that this past season and used *huge* plumes for it.  I ended up only using 4 or 5 I think, but each one was easily 25-30" long and absolutely decadent - like these guys:  http://fancyfeather.com/feathers/ostrich-feathers/ostrich-wing-feathers-plumes/25-up-ostrich-wing-feather-dyed-any-color.   It's the fluffy droop at the end that really captures the look. 
"I base most of my fashion taste on what doesn't itch." -G. Radner

Rowan MacD

Quote from: gem on July 18, 2013, 07:59:53 PM
Excellent, thank you!! I looked at feathers locally today, and Joann had theirs attached to looooong wire stems. Hobby Lobby had the best selection, at $4.99 each for decent (12-15") sized ostrich feathers (I guess the drabs? The smaller fluffy ones). Hoping they'll go on sale in the next few weeks.

New question! I'm trying to get the most bang for my buck, of course, and I've been reading up on layering feathers, etc. I'm making a giant Saxon-style hat with a big ring of white plumes all around the circumference. I'm wondering if I should go for more large feathers to fill in the circumference, or if I should double up on layering the feathers so each plume looks thicker? I probably can't afford to do *both.*  Which will have the most impact (keeping in mind that you really only see the ends, and from below)?


OT comment on this picture...Do you think that the collar the girl is wearing is actual jewelry, or a jeweled cloth collar?  that is some serious bling, I don;t think I've ever seen anything like that.
What doesn't kill me-had better run.
IWG wench #3139 
19.7% FaireFolk pure-80.3% FaireFolk corrupt

gem

I'm not sure. On the one hand, this is a depiction of Judith, so it's a fantastical picture, not a true-to-life portrait. So it might be just Cranach's imagination. OTOH, his portraits of the princesses of Saxony are of wealthy, wealthy, wealthy women indeed. The Period Patterns German Puff & Slash Gown pattern has historical notes that talk about how pricy some of these outfits were (evidently one noblewoman sold a village to afford a blue velvet gown). If those reports are to be believed, then I would think that the collars are all jewelry--although they'd be terribly heavy. We've seen analogous gold collars in other eras of history (and have found them in archaeological digs), so we know they're not out of the realm of possible manufacture.

That said, here's a terrific tutorial for making one out of velvet & beads, if you don't have your own court jeweler and a village to sell! How to Make a Cranach Collar

Spotsknight

Quote from: gem on July 09, 2013, 07:45:59 PM
I'm bumping this thread up to see if anyone has new resources for feathers--specifically the Ostrich plumes. I recently came across Lamplight Feather, which seems to have decent prices and quite a lot of useful information. Has anyone ordered from them before?

But my real reason for resurrecting this thread is to talk about working with feathers--selecting them, caring for them, attaching them to things, etc. I know you can hot glue them together into the little cone holder things, but what about applying them directly to the hats? I'm working on a very feather-heavy hat project, and am a Total Feather Novice.

Any advice appreciated!

Gramercy!
I don't know much about all this, but my lady has a hat which has sewn into the brim a small pocket that she can use to tuck feathers into it. So she doesn't need the cones, she just needs the feathers bound together and tucked into that pocket.