Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Hello again everyone XD Seems I'm begging for help more often than not nowadays 
Anyhoo, this is a seemingly strange request for ideas about feathers. I'm wanting to use the quill stem for an idea of mine, so it doesn't matter about colour: only quill size! Something about...4-5mm, 1/5" would be great... maybe a little smaller. Anyone got any ideas of what birds I should be looking at, or even better any suppliers?
I know this seems random, but it does have a point, and it's a bear (ish) point too! Believe me! :D
Chloe x
Wild Thyme OriginalsHi Chloe! Is that 4-5 mm diameter of the quill itself, or 4-5 mm in length... those would be some short little feathers!
Kim Basta
Ooo, sorry! I mean in diameter XD you're right! Like mini... dwarfy bird feathers!
Wild Thyme OriginalsYou know what I'd do? I'd get myself a down stuffed pillow and open it up. I had a down comforter that developed a hole as I was shaking it out one day.... and a million tiny little feathers popped out! 
Kim Basta
Yeah, that would make an amazing bear... all poufy! What I'm wanting to do is find a way of making nice natural looking claws that are a lot longer than a bears, and i thought a good feather quill might do it, if I could attatch them together and slip them through a seam somewhere...
Chaska, MinnesotaWell, perhaps doing a search on the internet for millenary suppiers. I bet they might have what you are looking for....
Thanks Michelle 
I've googled for feathers, but didn't think about hat type ones XD Only problem is there's little information on the sizes... I'll keep looking though! Thanks! :hug:
Maybe transparent FIMO would work intead? On a wire armature?
Can't wait to start on this idea, but I don't want to tell you all what it is incase it comes out bad
Michaels' and other Craft stores have feathers...check also all fly fishing supply shops..... hrdware stores also sell products for making flies for fishing... and also taxidermy supply shops
JeannieB BearsHi,
A lot of people have chickens and may be able to collect the little feathers that come out. If they were painted they may be good claws. If I have time, I'll try it and send you a picture.
JeannieB
JeannieB Bears
Chloe,
I couldn't resist trying your idea. I went to the barn and collected some feathers. I just got a bag of feathers from a craft store.... The all white feather is from the store. I painted the quills with acrylic brown paint. It looks like they will make nice claws! There is a variety of quill sizes in the feathers from the store. I think you'll be able to find a whole set from one bag. I paid .97 cents for the bag.
JeannieB
Ah, but you forget I am a Brit XD I will certainly try a craft shop as soon as I can find one.. there's not really any call for one where I live :P
I'd make them from FIMO, which is easier, but it's for a creature with extremely long claws and I don't want then to be too brittle... maybe wire would make them ok.
Glad to see the idea works, jeannie! Now, if only I could find some chickens... 
oooh what ARE you making - really long claws???
i live near abbotsbury swannery ... maybe they tidy up a lot of discarded feathers
you could ask a place like that
cat xxx
It's a surprise XD
Unfortunately I also need to learn how to needle felt before I can finish it, so it's an EXTENDED surprise I was thinking about swan and goose feathers, but my problem is that no one in my family can drive, so the only way I can get feathers is by taking on the swans along our river directly, and I'm not sure I want to do that! Thanks Cat
i was just thinking they - a bird santualry or soemthing - might send you them
and use the money to keep the birds in fine fettle!
cat xxx
Good plan... I'll see what's in my area 
Better than battling it out with a VERY ANGRY swan...
yeah that dangerous !
pick up the phone and call some swans instead !
cat xxxx
Well, you just take a walk through the parks then....and collect feathers lying about from the swans, ducks and geese..?? there are usually quite a few from our Canada Geese on the fairways and around the greens on the golfcourses here too ....along with plenty of "geese peep" as we call it....ick.....try to pick up the clean ones!
I'm going to try it, though we mostly seem to get ducks up here, and they might be too small... when I go home I'll have a look along the Witham too Otherwise it's to Lincoln, to mob a swan!
oooh, ive seen the lincoln imp !
cat xxxx
XD Literally?
fribbles, ltd....Fimo isn't brittle, if you bake it properly. Kato is amazing, I recommend that---Fimo and Kato are the two strongest clays on the market, along with Cernit. This is ONLY if you bake for the recommended length of time and temperature as recommended by the manufacturer---and that means getting an oven thermometer and watching to see how your oven bakes, if there're temperature spikes or dips, etc.
I would say that the Fimo claws would hold up FAR better than the quill idea---the quills will become more brittle with age, whereas the Fimo is plastic and will remain the same, assuming it is not left out in the sun, etc., mistreated.
Check out Mark's results when he tested clay:
http://marksstudio.com/clay_finger_break_test.htm
---I didn't realize Cernit was the strongest, that's pretty amazing...
Amelia
Thanks Amelia I've only worked with small details with FIMO, and it's held up pretty well: I just wasn't sure about the transparent stuff... I must try it
