FYI:: Feather Cleaning

Quite often, when I'm selling at craft fairs or just wearing something I have conjured up out of feathers, I get asked how I know the feathers I use are clean. Obviously, potential customers don't want a piece of a bird hanging off them unless it is 100% clean and germ free, which I totally agree with. I'm quite open about the fact that I use feathers found by myself or my merry troupe of fellow feather collectors around the globe, and making sure the feathers are clean and safe to wear and work with is of utmost importance to me. So let me tell you how I know the feathers you may like to purchase from my wee store are clean my friends.

I clean them myself.

Quite a daunting task when you have a box of feathers you haven't looked at for a while, but strangely therapeutic and quite good for organising oneself and getting the creative juices flowing if making things out of feathers is how you roll.

Here's how I make sure my feathers are bug and dirt free before turning them into things to look pretty on your head:

First off,  freeze the feathers. Sounds odd, but after extensive research, I have discovered that freezing them for at least 24 hours ensures anything that might reside on them is taken care of, without compromising the feathers structural integrity. So into the freezer in organised baggies they go, generally for a week or so.

Don't worry flatmates, these are tucked away in a card envelope so no feathers end up floating about in the freezer we don't use anyway.

Then I wipe them down. I use antibacterial babywipes with tea tree oil to make sure I'm totally disinfecting the feathers, and getting rid of any nasties left over after freezing.

Tea tree is a natural antiseptic, and is much nicer on the feathers than using anything chemical such as alcohol which will ruin the natural oils in the feathers and cause them to loose shape and prettiness.

So once you've got your feathers out of the freezer, and your supplies on hand, I look at each feather individually and wipe it over with the tea tree [just a drop at a time is enough] on the baby wipe and take off any visible dirt, remove any gross parts and wipe every feather over thoroughly - but not too thoroughly. Its a good chance to smooth feathers back into shape but too much will cause them to loose shape.

At this time I also trim all extra bits off feathers, any gross fluffy bits that get in the way, if any parts of the feather are unsuitable for wearing or too dirty to save - these come off and go in the bin. This is where the hand gel comes in, don't forget to clean your hands afterwards!

I generally sit down and do this right before an earring making session, as I'm looking at each feather individually its normally the best time to pair up any couples that go well together.

Et voila! Beautiful and clean feathers, ready to be made into lovely earrings.