Feather Quill Pens

I love primitive things, and I love writing. What better primitive writing thing than a quill made from a feather?

I've fiddled with the cut of a quill pen before, and I think I've got that part down. Now I just need to temper some feathers...

But first I have to acquire and clean some feathers. I'm almost out of goose feathers and I never made it to a lake this summer.

A friend of mine has a son that loves to hunt, and Turkey Season is coming up. He has agreed to save me the wing feathers so that I can try this out.

Now, the thing about found feathers is that they are disgusting. Seriously. Mites and lice and disease. Birds are gross. I found this super-in-depth (and probably overkill but that's even better!) article about how to properly clean found feathers: https://daragallery.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/sanitizing-feathers-for-crafts/

Update 12/7/20 - I have a friend who has a son that hunts. He saved me the wing of one of his turkeys this year, but all the feathers are stuck together. Here's a video on how to separate them: https://www.customfeathers.com/ProcessWholeWing.htm 

Leaving that there for future reference.

This article talks about how to temper the feathers to get the best quills. https://ourpastimes.com/how-to-make-a-quill-pen-12112198.html

Here's the cutting process for the nib.

I'd also love to make some ink to go with it. I've made Black Walnut ink in the past and it is GORGEOUS! Deep reddish-brown. Easy to do, but it reeks to high heaven so do it outside for sure. Here's the tutorial I followed for that ages ago: https://freeplaycraft.wordpress.com/2010/11/04/how-to-make-black-walnut-ink-a-photo-tutorial/