First off; The history of feathers and millinery is not a good one, many species of birds were hunted to extension because of their popularity. I use feathers in my hat making but feathers from birds that are raised either for their meat or their feathers. I do want people who buy feathers to check with the sellers to find out where their feathers are sourced, and how they are raised so they can be comfortable before you buy.
Curling Ostrich Plumes with a 1/2″ bore electric curling iron. For some hats in some periods having a curled Ostrich plume is what you want, You can curl new plumes or vintage plumes. You can curl them by hand the same way you curl ribbed package ribbon but it takes lots of time the thicker you plume to longer it will take. I have spent three hours curling a large ostrich plume made up of three feathers. I have been experimenting with using a small bore home curling iron to do it much quicker.
Feathers are like human hair in many ways and as a rule anything you can do with hair you can do with feathers. Irons are used to curl feathers commercially also hairspray. I use both.
I’m starting with a plume made from three feathers sewn together.
If you do not know how to make a plume check this page. http://www.lynnmcmasters.com/OstrichPlumes.html
It is much easier to curl feathers if all the barbs are the same length so, I use a rotary cutter to trim any extra long ones.
Trimmed away barbs,
I clamp the base of the stem into a bench clamp. Any similar tool will help so you have two hands free for curling.
I heat up the iron to high and make sure I have heat protection for my hands.
Just like with working with hair I use clips to isolate the area I want to curl.
I spray a light coat of hairspray on the section and let it dry.
As it is drying I comb the section with a wide toothed comb.
I put the section into the curling iron and roll it up to a point. You could roll it all the way or just the ends, your choice. I count to 20, your iron may be hotter so experiment.
Then remove the iron. After this it needs to be fluffed the feathers will not stay in this organized roll.
If any barbs does not curl you can do it separately. Or you can go back and pick out some of the surface barbs and curl them the opposite direction up to the stem to give a more fluffy feather.
The last thing is to shape the stem by making dents along the bottom of the stem with your thumb nail.