Thread: Feathers

Sounds like a plan to me

Canebreaker,
I use both feathers purchased and feathers straight off the bird. I like to put the fresh feathers in a zip-lock bag and toss them in the freezer for a spell. That way I'm sure to kill any microscopic free-loaders before I tie with them. I've never coated mine with anything and they seem to do fine by my standards.

Cane - as long as you get any blood off them and wash well you should be good to go. Borax seems to act as a bug deterent, I use a mix of Dawn foaming dish soap and borax in a plastic coffee can. You shake them to agitate, let em sit, shake and sit. Pour them out into a strainer (BUY YOUR OWN!!!!LOL) and rinse them.

The feathers will dye better when they're wet. If I'm not going to be dyeing them right away I put them in a pillow case and throw in the dryer for 5 minutes on medium heat, then just air dry. Pack in zip bags and that's it.

I've used easter egg dye, kool-aid, Hawaiian Punch and RIT dye. Got some of the Veniards Fly Dye this past X-mas and the stuff is excellent!!!!!!! It costs a bit but a little of it goes a long way!!!!!!!!!!!! and the colors are excellent.

Here's the first ones I did -
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/jig-t...d-hand-dyeing/

If you want to dye them, make sure you degrease them first!

Thank you.
Fatman, the Dawn ought to degrease real well and the Borax ought to do a number on the bugs.
I may have a gallon bag of feathers and down once I get to picking them up from the coop and yard. My 5 White Rocks turned out to be Cornish X. TSC didn't label them right I guess. I'll get another gallon bag from each when I dress them.
The stores didn't have the Ritz Dye colors I wanted so I went to their website. The colors I wanted only came in pint containers as a powder. May mix them for other colors.

Originally Posted by Fatman

Cane - as long as you get any blood off them and wash well you should be good to go. Borax seems to act as a bug deterent, I use a mix of Dawn foaming dish soap and borax in a plastic coffee can. You shake them to agitate, let em sit, shake and sit. Pour them out into a strainer (BUY YOUR OWN!!!!LOL) and rinse them.

The feathers will dye better when they're wet. If I'm not going to be dyeing them right away I put them in a pillow case and throw in the dryer for 5 minutes on medium heat, then just air dry. Pack in zip bags and that's it.

I've used easter egg dye, kool-aid, Hawaiian Punch and RIT dye. Got some of the Veniards Fly Dye this past X-mas and the stuff is excellent!!!!!!! It costs a bit but a little of it goes a long way!!!!!!!!!!!! and the colors are excellent.

Here's the first ones I did -
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/jig-t...d-hand-dyeing/

Fly tying folks put Veniards as the best for tying purposes so actually if you want to start dying your own, that is the way I would go!

Skip

Cane - the Dawn will degrease them fine. All the different drink mix's and RITwork fine. If you look at all the threads where I tried different colors it will give you some good ideas.

What colors are you looking for?? As Skip said Veniards is EXCELLENT!!!!!!! Here's the thread on when I used it, and I sent Skip some of the Fluorescent ones to have pictures done under a black light to see if they really showed up as fluorescent, and he posted the results of those in that thread.
http://www.crappie.com/crappie/jig-t...ults-dye-jobs/

For anyone getting into dyeing feathers, make sure you have real BALL canning jars!!!!!! with the raised letters. They have a craft one and it don't cut it for dyeing the feathers - only thing that saved me was I had an old cookie sheet with newspaper and paper towels on it and when the jar cracked it kept the dye right there and not on the wifes counter or tile floor.

Thank you.
Ball canning jars, I must have a truck load. When someone passed in the family it seemed that I got their jars.