A Goose feather ornament on a 10″ hat.
1920s hat with Goose, silk rose, Hackle (see Hackle article) and some burnt Ostrich feathers.
Curled goose feathers on a Vintage Edwardian fan.
Sort your feathers, I using a good quality Goose shoulder feathers that are 6″ long.
Strip (pull off) the barbs on either side of the stem leaving the non-downey upper half in place.
Strip about 15 feathers and clip away the excess stem.
1) Hold the feather in your non-dominate hand with the stem pointing away. Use the tip of the scissors to separate a 1/4″ sections of the barbs. Thanks to Stephanie Flora for doing the demo curling.
2) Use your thumb to press the barbs between the blade and your thumb.
3) Pull while twisting your wrist clockwise, repeat as necessary to achieve a nice curl.
4) Use the tip of the scissors to isolate the next 1/4″ of barbs.
Repeat steps 2-4 until you finish the side.
Flip the feather over and repeat 1-4 until you finish curling this side.
Make a stack of curled feathers organized by size.
Bundle the feathers in threes and tape them with matching color florist tape together with a 3 to 4″ length of thin covered wire (stem wire).
Tape the bundles together stagered so they form a wing shape.
Finished curled Goose shoulder feather pad.