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Greenhorn
Picture of Riley/MN
posted
I am looking for a certain article that I know was in Muzzleloader. It was telling how to make a loop in the quill of a feather to use it as ornamentation. When I click on the article index, it only shows me 2013. does anyone know where the complete article index is/ (or where to find that article?)

Thanks


-Riley

TMA MN State Rep
 
Posts: 3 | Location: Wabasha County, MN | Registered: 17 March 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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I've glued 1/4 wide strips of thin soft leather to both sides useing hide glue or rubber cement. Either in a loop or two wangs long enough to tie it to something. Then wrapped the shaft with felt n wrapped it all in two or three places with yarn.
 
Posts: 229 | Location: Southeast Pa. | Registered: 03 February 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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Another way although more difficult is to cut the shaft and loop it into itself. Pull the down from the bottom of the shaft, dip n hold it in near boiling water for a minute or two until it softens. Cut a half moon shaped cut leaving the end of the shaft intact, dip and soften again. Then wrap n shove the tip back into the body of the shaft n let cool n harden. A few drops of glue help to secure it. There is a learning curve to getting it right n ya need a very sharp blade to do the cutting.personally I prefer the leather strip method
 
Posts: 229 | Location: Southeast Pa. | Registered: 03 February 2015Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
Picture of Riley/MN
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Birdman61:
Another way although more difficult is to cut the shaft and loop it into itself. Pull the down from the bottom of the shaft, dip n hold it in near boiling water for a minute or two until it softens. Cut a half moon shaped cut leaving the end of the shaft intact, dip and soften again. Then wrap n shove the tip back into the body of the shaft n let cool n harden. A few drops of glue help to secure it. There is a learning curve to getting it right n ya need a very sharp blade to do the cutting.personally I prefer the leather strip method


That is how they were showing to do it in the article I saw, but I can't find it! I did find how to see the articles that are in a magazine, but I just can't locate it.....


-Riley

TMA MN State Rep
 
Posts: 3 | Location: Wabasha County, MN | Registered: 17 March 2006Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Notchy Bob
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Riley,

I see what you mean. When you look for a comprehensive index of articles, the year 2013 is the only one you get. If you go to the Back Issues page and go through issue by issue, you can read the tables of contents, but you may already know that, and there is really not much detail. If you have been subscribing for a while, you may know that the November/December issue every year has a comprehensive index of articles for that year.

I've been subscribing since about 2010 and I have some individual back issues dating back further, but I don't recall an article about feathers. However, I can't remember where I left my iPhone, either. When I get time, I may scan through the article indexes for the years I have and see what I can find.

If you are looking for that specific article, that's on thing, but if you just need information about feather working, a lot of craft books may have the information you want. The best of the lot, though, is Focus on Feathers, by Andrew Forsythe, published by Crazy Crow. There are a variety of ways to make attachment loops, in addition to other techniques for attaching feathers without loops, and I think Forsythe probably shows them all. In addition, Alfred Kroeber's old classic, The Arapaho, shows details of several old-time methods of feather attachment. Happily, this and all of the other Bulletins of the American Museum of Natural History are available for free online. See Volume 18, Article IV, pp. 321-323: The Arapaho

If you use the "fold and tuck" technique described above, which is authentic, you lose a lot of the feather's length. You do indeed need a razor sharp knife to do a neat job, and it is not an easy technique to finish well, at least in my experience.

In attaching loops, I typically use the technique pretty much as described above by birdman1, except I use thin rawhide instead of leather. Rawhide is less bulky, stiffer, and stronger, but it is more tedious to apply. I cut the strips, wet them, and bind them on the feather shaft. After allowing time for them to dry completely, I take off the binding and the rawhide strip, apply glue, and bind the rawhide strips on again for a permanent bond. The permanent binding may be of waxed thread, colored string, or sinew. I prefer real sinew over the artificial stuff for this... It looks better, holds better, and is more authentic. I have painted the sinew with trade paint, but to me it looks just as good left its natural color. A lot of the original featherwork of the western Indians has plain sinew wrapping.

Good luck with your project!

Notchy Bob


"Should have kept the old ways just as much as I could, and the tradition that guarded us. Should have rode horses. Kept dogs."

from The Antelope Wife
 
Posts: 333 | Location: Florida | Registered: 24 May 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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