Category Archives: Feather Art

Famous Feathers – We Are Mad At Downton Abbey Now So Let’s Talk About Dog…

Posted on by
Dog the Bounty Hunter wearing guinea fowl and peacock feathers. Dog rocks!

Dog the Bounty Hunter wearing guinea fowl and peacock feathers. Dog rocks!

We feel that the Season 3 Finale of Downton Abbey was un-called for, and gratuitous. Matthew had JUST achieved the American (meaning British) dream and – crunch!  So no more Downton Abbey for us. We object. We are on strike.

We don’t need no Downton Abbey to celebrate Famous Feathers!

We have Dog the Bounty Hunter!

In our quest for all things related to natural feathers, feathers for arts and crafts, and cruelty-free feathers, we celebrate those who celebrate them.

Dog is fascinating all on his own, but his use of roach-clipped feather cascades in his gloriously grizzled hair is riveting.

Dog did hair feathers before hair feathers were cool, that’s how cool Dog is.

I’ve seen him in Lady Amherst, Golden, and rooster hackle. This picture shows him wearing guinea fowl with peacock body feather accents.

We hope that his hair feathers were made with cruelty-free feathers. We know that Dog is wearing feathers because of his Native American connections – and we are more general feather artists, but nonetheless, Dog rocks. Dog rocks feathers.

Our supply of both guinea fowl and peacock feathers are available in the Feather Jewelry Sampler, which has a collection of feathers idea for making feather jewelry.

Some day, I’m going to make a hair feather extension like Dog’s and that will be a glorious post!

 

 

Category: Feather Art | Tags: , , , ,

Famous Feathers – Downton Abbey (of course!) and the Reeves Tail Feather

Posted on by

This wonderful feather, from Downton Abbey Season 3 – Martha Levinson arrives, is the tail of the Reeves Pheasant rooster. We raised that kind of pheasant in our flock, as well as others.

The historical fiction of Downton Abbey, Season 3 by pbs.org is not only fantastic, it is full of glorious feathered headpieces that are keeping me busy with my blog series about uses of arts and crafts feathers in history, literature, and film.

I hope that the creators of the pbs special are using cruelty-free feathers, because it matters, and that said… we have to give Shirley MacLaine our full attention.

She is playing Martha Levinson, mother of Lady Grantham, and for her triumphant (for her) and dreaded (for Lady Grantham) arrival, she is wearing a magnificent feathered hat.

The feather is from a Reeves Pheasant rooster. We raised Reeves pheasant, and we were lucky enough to raise a rooster (also known as cock).

The pheasant do shed their tail feathers, or they can come off in natural, non-tragic, accidents, like when our rooster-boy was basking in the sun on a cold winter day and his tail froze into a shaded puddle on the aviary ground.

When he took off, his tail did not, and I was able to scurry out with a blow dryer and extension cord and claim the tail feather. It regrew, but it took time. He was more embarrassed than injured.

Martha Levinson’s hat feather has been curved and trimmed, showing the exotic pattern in a very fine way. You can’t see how long the Reeves pheasant tail feather can get from this hat piece – it can be upwards of two feet long, tapering at the end.

I don’t sell the Reeves pheasant tails, but I do have their body feathers in my specials and samplers, as well other spectacular feathers from the crest and body. And other feathers that appear on the hats of Downton Abbey.

 

 

Martha Levinson, the mother of Lady Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern).

Category: Feather Art | Tags: , ,

Feather Artist Spotlight… Chris Maynard

Posted on by
Feather Art Natural Feathers

Chris Maynard’s feather art is simply amazing. Some of the kinds of feathers he uses are for sale here, but he goes much farther into the medium than I’ve ever seen before. I spent more than an hour at his amazing website.

The uses of feathers for arts and crafts is endlessly fascinating, and gives me many ideas for uses for my cruelty-free feathers.

Chris Maynard’s work on feathers came to my attention through a friend. I was amazed by Chris’s shadowbox feather art and spent hours cruising his website.

I learned there that Maynard creates his feather sculptures using eye surgery cutting tools. The birds cut out from the feathers are the birds that produced the feathers.

Some of his feathers are exotic, obtained legally from zoos and curators.

Maynard’s feather photography captures the elusive iridescence that I am so amazed by, and that I know is difficult to photograph.

There’s a hummingbird feather on a copper penny. That’s a must-see.

This feather art is inspirational. One of the best things about having a big inventory of feathers for arts and crafts is access to these amazing materials.

I’m very pleased to be able to view Chris Maynard’s feather art, and look forward to bringing more art to this blog about feathers of www.TheFeatheredEgg.com

 

Category: Feather Art | Tags: , , ,