Tools and Materials:
1) Wire cutters 2) Color match florist tape 3) two ostrich stems or other stiff feather like a pheasant tail feather 4) 4 dozen rooster feathers either “Schlappen” (which is a tail feather) or hackle (which can be a neck feather) 5) Wire is shown but is not necessary unless your stem is not long or stiff enough, I did not use it.
For an example I had this cluster of three vintage ornaments. Two rust and one black. In this article I’m going to show how to make more black sections to make and all black ornament.
First strip (pull off) the barbs along the entire length of the two ostrich stems.
Next, strip the side barbs of the hackle feathers from the base to about 2″ to the tip. Do 24 for each ornament.
This is my pile of stripped barbs on the left and my stripped feathers on the right.
Curl the ostrich stems. You can use a curling iron or with a table knife dent one side of the stem from the mid point to the tip. Color the stripped stems of the feathers if where they are another color in the area you removed barbs. Any permanent marker the right color will work. I should have touched up my hackle feathers but did not. You might notice that in the following pictures, I will go back and fix that.
Line up the ends of the hackle feathers by their bases and use the florist tape to tape the hackle stems to the ostrich stem (about 2 to 3″ above the base end). I did that in two bundles first one side and then the other. Repeat with other other set of feathers.
Use the florist to tape the two ornaments together at their bases. Then added them to a grouping of three burnt ostrich feathers.
Optional: force a bend in the taped part of the two ornaments and tape them to another ornament as shown. Slip this behind the flower and tack stitch it in place on the hat. You can control the angle by tacking it first close to the base then adjusting the angle and tacking it again about 2 to 3″ above that.
Hat with finished ornament.