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Millinery feathers

by Emma
(Townsville)

Hi I live near Townsville and have opened an on-line boutique selling second hand and vintage designer fashion. I'm looking into millinery but a lot of feathers aren't up to scratch and I would like to create something a little more interesting.

So I would like to look into silk feathers, developing and painting my own unique feathers for hats and fascinators etc. if you already know someone who does this that would be fantastic! But if not...where do I start?

Is it best I find an artist to work with or learn the art of silk painting my self? Is there anyone in the Townsville area I could contact? Any information would be wonderful.




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Millinery feathers

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experimenting with dyes and feathers
by: Jill

Emma, sorry to say that my experiment with dyeing feathers was not successful. I used my normal fibre reactive dyes but didn't take into consideration the wax / oil that is on the feathers and this, of course, resisted the water-based dye.

Maybe people who dye feathers successfully use something like hair dyes?

Sorry I couldn't help. Have you looked at the commercial dyed feathers on sale via the internet? They mostly look very glamorous.

Good luck - let us know how you get on and how your business is going?

Jill
Great idea!
by: Jill

Hi Emma

That's a great idea! I am sure that feathers will add to the interest of your vintage clothing.

However I think that it would be so difficult to make feathers out of silk and really, Nature does a pretty good job.

I googled 'dyed feathers' and found a couple of really good sites that sell a variety of feathers from quite large birds such as ostriches to much smaller ones. I think that the fibre reactive dyes that I use on silk would work on feathers. I shall see if I can find some on the beach and try it out for you.

Maybe you could get feathers from a bird or wildlife park - imagine how stunning lorikeet feathers would be!

Your idea of using dyed and painted silk in your business sounds excellent. Painting with dyes is great fun and I expect that your local arts group would have a teacher available.

I plan to write a small e-book about silk painting so that might interest you when it is done. So check out this site in a couple of months - I shall let people know via the newsletter too, so maybe fill in the little form in the nav bar if you would like to receive that.

Good luck with it all!

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