Making a Feather
I had and odd special request several weeks ago, could I make a feather. Well sure I suppose I could, I say. A feather would do, but preferably if it could be held like a quill pen, it would be better. Sure I say, I can do that……. Next Figure out how to do that….
I started with this wool from Ashland Bay https://www.ashlandbay.com/sandalwood.
The first one I made was to flimsy so I did a second. I laid out the wool from a line in an upward angel to look like the lines on the vane of a feather. I did 2 of these one for each side of the feather.
I made the quill by wrapping a pipe cleaner in white wool and rolling it in a mat. After they were felted and fulled I cut one side of each strait so I could attach it to the quill part. I attached them by needle felting the vain to the quill. If you look close you can see the vain colour poking through the quill
To get the right shape for the feather I went to google images and searched for drawings of feathers for kids to colour. I printed out the one I liked and then drew around it to make it a little bigger. I cut it out and pined it to the wool and trimmed it.
Here is the Front and back finished.
I am generally happy but would have liked to have time to do another one. I like the way the vain looks in parts but would have liked the direction of the wool layout to remain more. I really like the upper part of the right side of the right picture. I was surprised at how much the purpley blue disappeared. I would like to make the quill part thinner next time but I am not sure how to do that and still have it stiff enough and with enough wool to attach the vain sides to it.
How would you tackle the problem of making a feather?