Cool, Dave.  I've been burning feathers for 40 years and never thought to do one like that.  I like it.

Hey CK. Wasn't it you that almost had a mishap with a home made model?

Dave I wrap a little masking tape (green painters lowtac) around the shaft front and back. I can have the ribbon touching and burning the tape and not mark the shafts or cresting.

I have had my Young since 1964.  Has never failed me.  The secret to success is knowing how much the wire expands when it heats so you do not have burn down into the quill too far or worse the shaft/paint.  I try to get it to burn right to the quill and then trim with a breakaway razor knife on both ends (carefully)  A good taper to your cut on the point end and a drop of glue will hold the feather down and keep it from tearing off on the rest.  That is one of the things I dislike about die cuts is the ragged edge on the point end that can be hard to trim evenly.  If you get a bit of brown smoke a Q-tip swabbed with alcohol will clean it right up.