Washing feathers

[twisted]

I was wondering if any of you guys or gals can tell me if ivory dishwashing liquid is mild enough to use to clean turkey feathers to prep for dyeing and use for fleching

[Jack Guard]

Ivory is perfect.

[twisted]

thank for the quick reply Jack Guard i dont know if it will work but i found a site about using Kool-Aid for dye it says it works on natural wool so i figure id try it out on feathers to see how it works lol

[Dave Worden]

From what I've heard, the Kool-Aid will dye a feather, but the color won't be very vivid.  Rit dye works well.

[Jack Guard]

I have tried both Kool-aid and rite dye.  they both have interesting results.  If you google koo-aid dying you will find a link that has color results and they are really quite nice looking.  although most of the dying has been done to wool.   I think i enjoyed the Kool-aid dying more because it was cheap and fun.  

Here is a picture (not a very good picture) of a sheep wool string silencer i died with Kool-Aid and coffee.   Good Luck, Jack

[Daddy Bear]

One of the great benefits of using wild turkey feathers for fletching is the abundance of waterproofing natural oil which is the result of a wild turkey preening on a regular basis. My only concern would be if you did anything to strip this preen gland oil from the feathers. I'll use mild soap to remove blood from the feathers which works well, but I'm unsure if certain dyes or dye techniques removes or breaks down the oil.

Daddy Bear

[twisted]

Hey thanks for the replys guys ill let u know how it gose