Bleached Plume beading

[ndnhottie79]

I just recieved a bunch of plumes and I am not too crazy about the orange color of the plumes. I would like to make them completely white so that I can wear them with either rig. How do I go about bleaching them to white? I have heard of bleach, sun, and hydrogen peroxide....I need a place to start. They are nice plumes and I would not want to ruin them. Secondly how would I tie them together to get the big plumes that most fancy shawl dancers have? I have about 10 plumes all together, I heard that they can be tied together but does anyone know how to do that? In the very end I would like to do some type of beading around the base and have a hair barrette to match....any info would be helpful at this point.
thanks anyone....

[Singing Otter]

I'm not sure how to get em white, but I don't think ya wanna bleach em..... seems to me like the clorox would eat them up.

[Blackbear]

Yeah not sure if you would want to bleach them either..but let someone experienced telll you how if you can... but one thing I do know for sure... DO NOT USE OXYCLEAN or any like products on feathers.... !!!

[ndnhottie79]

thanks guys,
does anyone know how to tie them all together to make them stay nice and sturdy like fancy shawl dancers wear? I have seen some vendors have them, and when I asked they said just tie them togher,.,,they didn't go into detail on how to do that...anyone know how?
thanks again...I think I will try hydrogen peroxide becuase it isn't that harsh...I will let you know how one turns out.

[Suzizila]

It's easy to make the fake plumes, so that they look really full.

Here's how Noc Bay does it.

1) Get one of those white turkey feathers. (the kind craft stores have)

2) Strip the webbing off the feather, but leave a little bit on top.

like this ------> <>
l
l
l
l
l
l l
l l
l l
3) Decide which fluffs you want to have on top & and arrange the others.

4) Put a little bit of glue on the diamond shaped section of webbing you left at the top. Use white thread to secure the rest of the fluff to the quill of the feather. As you make your way down the quill, you glue fluffs on and wrap them with your thread.

5) Make sure to leave enough of the quill part to tuck into a barrette. Wrap your thread at the end, tie it off, and secure your knots. I like to complete fake plumes by wrapping the end of the quill with leather and fringing the leather. The fringe looks good hanging from underneath a barrette.

Good luck with your plume. :)

Dang...my little illustration didn't work out .....but the diamond section of the webbing is at the top of the stripped feather.

[ndnhottie79]

THANK YOU!!

Hey guys the hydrogen peroxide worked!! I used the kind that you get at the drug store, worked great. I let the feather set for about 45 minutes, and then rinsed it in warm water and hung it by a fan and in about 5 minutes it was back to its puffy state and the feather is brilliant white with a little grey brown tip, enough to make it look like real plumes.
Thanks for tellin me how to tie them on...I was getting frusterated but now I know what to do.
thanks everyone!:D

[walela49]

Dang, I never knew you could bleach fluffs (and that they'd "re-fluff", ya know?)!