artificial barred turkey feathers

[b.glass]

My daughter wants tiger striped fletching. I tried using a sharpie but the ink bled. I tried washing the feather with dish soap but it didn't help. How do they make the artificial barred turkey feathers?
I figure how ever they do that should work for what I am trying to do.

[Ray_G]

Bona,

I have never done what you are asking but I guess you could use Rit and paint brush your stripes on the feather.  See this link

http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=060512#000000

Seems that some use vinegar in the dye and some afterward to make the color fast.  Let us know how it works out and post some pics.

Ray

[b.glass]

Thanks Ray! I read your replay at work last night and stopped and got some Rit dye on my way home. Slept some, shot some and now will try it out. I will let you know one way or the other if it works.

[b.glass]

Well, it didn't work. I tried to make the dye into a paste so it wouldn't run but it never really became a paste and it ran anyway. It wasn't looking too awfully bad and I should have let it dry maybe before trying to set it with vinegar. But it all washed out. Not even worth taking a picture. I do have some of the dye like Dean Torges recommends for dying/staining his bows. Is it called analine? I wonder if that would work.

[WidowEater]

gateway orange barred feathers are the closest thing there is to tiger stripe.  I tried to make tiger stripe arrows to in memory of the  Detroit Tigers, youch.

[geno]

I had good luck with a sharpie

[b.glass]

Geno,
What type of sharpie did you use? I don't know that they make different types but what I tried ran and wiped off. It was a "super permanent".

[Dark_Timber_Ghost]

Would a Paint pen work?

[Froggy]

b.glass,
sent you some pics of arrows I just finished.

          thanks

[b.glass]

I used analine dye on this one. Very concentrated red, looks black. It made a pretty good paste and didn't run very much. I have let it dry and now need to see what I might need to do to set the color. Sorry the pic is a bit fuzzy.

[b.glass]

Oh, also wanted to tell you all that I used a toothpick to put the tiger stripe design on, both sides. Pain staking! Wouldn't want to do alot of these!

[Dave Worden]

Doesn't Ted Nugent sell tiger striped feathers?  He has tiger striped everything else!

[geno]

Fine point, red and black. on true flight feathers. I have never heard of a sharpie bleeding. Was that after it got wet?

[b.glass]

Geno,
No, it rubbed off. Another point where I should have let it dry better. But I did not get good crisp lines so to speak because it would travel down the individual quills (or what ever they are called). BUT, I wasn't using a fine point either. I will try that again.

[b.glass]

I tried the sharpie again and got better results. I blew on the ink between coats and before it had a chance to channel down the quills. Still not with a fine point which would be better. This is definitely the way to go. Thanks Geno! If you hadn't given your opinion(sp?) I would have given up on this option.

[RRock]

Last time I did it was years ago but, black laundry marker did the trick. Put the black on first then dyed the main color with Ritz dye mixed with hot water and a little vinegar. Worked great still have some arrows fletched up that way.