Bleaching Wild Turkey Feathers?

[MAT]

I'd like to make solid color feathers, can you bleach out the natural barring on wild turkey feathers so they can be dyed a solid color? After that what dye works best?  Thanks.

[Craig]

What!!!!  send them to me I will send you in return what color feathers you want. Use domestic white turkey feathers to dye. Save those natural ones.

[Shedrock]

Originally posted by Craig:
What!!!!  send them to me I will send you in return what color feathers you want. Use domestic white turkey feathers to dye. Save those natural ones.

X2

[Converml]

I only use natural barred so to me it seems sacriligeous.       but if you want you could probably find someone to trade with in the arrows classifieds for whites or maybe a color you want.
Bleaching I don't know but dying here is a link from the how to resources. Good luck
 http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=2;t=000020#000000

[Converml]

In 3 minutes your gave 3 people a stroke    

[reddogge]

The answer is probably no but I'm sure it hasn't been attempted too much.

[Grey Taylor]

Because the barrs are in the feather rather than dyed on the feather, I suspect that they can not be bleached out. If they could be it may take so much chemical that it would degrade the feather past usability.
Like the others, I suggest you trade your natural barr feathers for an amount of domestic feathers in either the colors you need or in white so you can dye them yourself.
For feather dyeing you can use "acid" dyes that are made for protein substrates such as feathers, wool, hair, etc. I've found Dharma Trading to be the best source for dyes and information:
 http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/9236231-AA.shtml?lnav=dyes.html

Guy

[bigbadjon]

Solid color feathers come from white turkeys. I would think that the barring on the feathers could not be removed, and you would surely destroy the high oil levels that make them desirable to begin with.

[magnus]

No you can not! I've tried several different methods out of curiosity. You can lighten them a bit in shade but too much and it destroys the feather. The time it took as well made it not worth it. Might as well put them in the sun for a year or so and it'll bleach out some eventually. As stated above if you want solid colors start with white feathers. They're not the same though!!!

[Grey Taylor]

I just thought of the right allegory for this; I knew it would happen a few hours after I first read it    


 Don't try to turn your gold into silver. Trade your gold for more silver.  

Guy

[Converml]

Mark don't take the ribbing personal it's just hard to find the natural at times. That being said though you do had a valid reason if color fetching is what you want and that is there is a difference between farm raised white turkey feathers and wild. They wild are a much better feather. Would it be possible instead of bleaching them just go right to dying the naturals? I know they won't be solids but you will have some cool looking colored barreds. If that is something you can live with you would have some color from the dye and the quality of the wild turkey. The link on my post above should help with dying them.    

[Converml]

What about using white goose or duck feathers. The problem with farm turkeys is feather quality isn't the goal but solely breaking for the pot. Would a white goose or duck feather have a better feather quality then farm turkeys as they are not such a target of mass production? Giving Mark the quality he wants along with the ability to have a solid color?

[Rob DiStefano]

bleach natural turk feathers????

HERESY!!!!   :D

"bleaching" or coloring any natural bird feather will strip out its natural oil waterproofing.  not for me.  uh uh.  besides, not much could look cooler or more trad for me than a natural turk feather fletched woodie ...

 

[MAT]

Wow, didn't know I'd step into a pile of do-do with that!

You guys guessed right, I want a better feather so no wimpy domestic for me.  But I like the visiblity of a solid color with a barred cock.  That even looks traditional to me.  But since you can bleach hair I figured you could do the same with feathers.

I have enough wild feathers to keep me supplied for a few years even if I don't add anymore to the stash.  Maybe I should consider selling them since they seem to be in short supply?

[bigbadjon]

You might also consider splicing a solid color onto your barred feathers. Looks good and gives you the visibility you need. The tutorial on rmsgear makes it really easy.