Fine-feathered Hatbands

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The feathers, as they come off the bird, are usually a little too long for easy use ... so trim them to about an inch or an inch and a half. (Just clip 'em—to length —from the skin, to avoid creating a lot of loose fluff.)

Then, starting at the right-hand end of the leather, glue the feathers' quills in place with the plumes' patterned tips pointing to the right. Make sure each layer is well anchored before going on to the next, but also make sure that you don't glue the whole feather down flat, since you want the finished hatband to have a little body and thickness.

Three feathers, placed evenly abreast and slightly overlapping at the sides, usually look better than the same plumes would if placed at random. The next threesome should then overlap the first (like fish scales), allowing about half to three-quarters of an inch of the previous row of feathers to show.

You can work straight across the band to the left end, or start from both ends and make your way toward the middle. The latter method, of course, leaves you with the problem of how to "finish" the band when you reach the center. We solved this by making a circular medallion design-using progressively smaller feathers lodged in a spot of glue-to cover the junction. (The tiny, white accent feathers on a pheasant's neck work well for this.) A piece of polished turquoise—or any other small token you'd like to so honor—also looks nice when centered in such a feather "nest".

As a finishing touch, punch holes in the ends of the band and cut a thin, leather thong to use as a tie.

GIVE, SELL, OR BARTER

A hatband takes about 20 minutes to work up, while a feathered choker can be completed in considerably less time. Both objects make much appreciated gifts or find ready markets—usually on a consignment basis— in gift shops or craft co-ops. (Another obvious place to display your hatbands would be any place where hats are sold ... particularly western wear stores.) We've seen feather adornments go for as much as $10, but Allan and I would rather trade our crafts ... for needed items of variable values.

We've found, too (now that we've begun to notice such things) that many people will wear almost anything around their hats ... including snakeskins, small animals' pelts, and so forth. So— if you're short of feathers—you can probably use your imagination to utilize some of those craft project odds and ends (that most handifolk have hanging around) to whip up a variety of "topper trimmin's".

There is, however, one cardinal rule to remember when you're making a feathered hatband: Don't ever sneeze!

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