What can we do with...?

[Shydog]

I sometimes find feathers, but cannot figure a good use, seems they could be made into a craft of some sort. They seem so delicate. Some are really too big for anything I can think of. Pretty sure the big ones are from Red Tailed Hawks, they winter here, and sometimes I just stumble upon these feathers. As a gift, what can we do with feathers?

[SweetJaine]

One thing that came to mind as I was reading this was that Red Hawk is a Messenger Totem. You might use the feathers on some interesting handmade stationary...note cards or something....

Keeping the gift in alignment with the medicine of the individual bird might be cool :)

[Adam Blanchard]

you could always do what my fiancee does and make feather fans with the feathers you have collected.

[LIBRA]

Dream catchers would be cool too!

I have some feathers I find sticking outta my house plants. Actually Kris finds them and stuck one in a house plant, now they are everywhere in lots of plants. Its his doing really.

[Shydog]

Thanks everyone, this will give me a fun project this Winter. Making a fan would take alot of feathers I think, sounds like it would make a really cool gift. Why didn't I think of a "Dream Catcher"? I know... maybee with a hoop from a Willow branch. The Hawk will tie in... The Hawk is a powerful bird which, like the Eagle, can fly to great heights and thus be 'near the Sun'. The Indians also associated the bird with Thunder and Lightning. So the Hawk characterises the radiant energy of Fire, and the sudden illumination of the flash of light, and the power that is inherent in the transmuting of energy. Kenneth Meadows, "Earth Medicine"... So If I could make a dream catcher out of Hawk feathers that would be cool. Come to think of it...a flash of Light... Thanks, now I'm Seeing.

[Shydog]

That's what I'm gonna do. Got 3 willow hoops made up, got my feathers ready, Darci has an Indian dream maker friend....I hope this works out.

[Gaston]

I hate to be a buzzkill, but be very careful about possessing any wild bird feathers, especially from migratory birds or raptors. Check here first: http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/ to see if you need a permit. It doesn't matter if you simply picked them up off the ground, you may still be in violation of a Federal law with disproportionately severe penalties. A friend of mine had his house ransacked by the USFWS and was handcuffed and frogmarched off to jail, even though he had the right permits for the eagle feathers he owned. The Lakota shaman who was training him in the sweat lodge ceremony called his congressman and got my buddy out of jail long enough to prove his right to own them. They scared his family half to death with the raid. When I got home I dumped my box of pickup wing sheds from the Canada geese we fed every day.

You'd probably get in less trouble hanging crack balloons off your dreamcatcher.

Again, sorry for the buzzkill, but Steve's tale of woe isn't something most people hear about. If it's important to you, get a permit first. When I was a Cherokee reenactor I bought fake feathers (painted chicken and domestic turkey feathers) and kept the receipt in the car when I went to events, as USFWS agents have been known to attend reenactments and pow-wows just to nail people.

I ain't paranoid, they really are out to get me. ;)

[Shydog]

O.K. man. Maybee Guinea feathers would be O.K. man... Wait a minute, feather possesion is illegal? Thats trippy man. We were just talking about "Brave New World." How these world programmers programed everyones minds, they could make them believe anything...Feathers are bad,bad,bad. O.K. man.

[Unkle_John]

I sometimes find feathers, but cannot figure a good use, seems they could be made into a craft of some sort. They seem so delicate. Some are really too big for anything I can think of. Pretty sure the big ones are from Red Tailed Hawks, they winter here, and sometimes I just stumble upon these feathers. As a gift, what can we do with feathers?

Cat toys.
Cats love feathers.
They ask for it by name.

[LIBRA]

Gaston that is CRAZY!!! Why do they care if you use feathers whats it hurting?

[Shydog]

In all honesty a problem can arise when $$$ is involved. It's not the case here.

[Gaston]

In all honesty a problem can arise when $$$ is involved. It's not the case here.

What I'm telling you is that the $$$ doesn't matter, it's simple possession of certain feathers that's illegal unless you have a Federal permit.

[LIBRA]

Gaston, why is that? I wonder why the feds care so much, whats it hurting?

[Crochety Carpenter]

Gaston is right. has to do with the endangered spiecies act. Feds think you must be killing the birds to get the feathers. Stupid but true.

[LIBRA]

Ohhhh thats why. I get it now. I was thinking what the heck do they care if you find some bird feathers.

[Unkle_John]

Yeah, native tribes are the only ones allowed to possess raptor and certain other birds feathers for ceremonial purpose.

[SoupSandwich]

I'm about to go to a pre-1840's reenactment next week and I save all the feathers I find, cut them diagonally, and use them for quill pens! They're pretty cool. Not sure how that could be a gift though, unless it's for someone as strange as me. :p

[freakyfairy]

I like to make earrings out for feathers i find :) I LOVE feather earrings!

[NanaLove]

:) Awesome! I would love to buy some odd feathers, I am currently working on converting my lace tutu into a feather tutu. I've started with tieing feathers along the entire bottom of it with multi colored string. All the feathers I am using for this one are uv reactive, they glow amazingly in the black light! I also have put some bells on it. I have another tutu a friend of mine made for me that is entirely made of feathers and yarn. No lace to start from. It was alot nicer looking until I romped around at a festival in it lol Now is kind of erm... missing some feathers but I keep it for the memory!

[spiritdreamer]

Hi there, I have been making Dreamcatchers for a long time. I never sell them, but give them as gifts to those close to me. A beautiful personal touch to them is if I find real feathers when I am out walking. I know that some bought dreamcatchers have man-made feathers hanging from them, but I think adding a feather or two that I or my family have found simply out walking makes the gift a wee bit more special :)
Just a wee idea?
xx

[Gaston]

A friend of mine is married to a Cherokee woman (full tribal status), and he has been given permission and the necessary permits by his Lakota god-father to have eagle feathers for the sweat lodge ceremony (in which he is also certified by the Lakota). One evening a bunch of black-uniformed Feds (at least not in SWAT gear) knocked on his door and when he anwered it they barged in and had his whole family proned out on the floor looking for his feathers. He told them where they were and they rummaged through and found them, but when he told them where his permit was they refused to look for it. He ended up in jail (his wife got out of a trip to the pokey because she was Cherokee), and had to hire a lawyer and bondsman before he could present his permit and get the charges dropped (this was in around 1990 or so). The Feds take it seriously.

Sorry to harsh anyone's mellow, but them's the facts as they stand. And yes, it was sold to Congress as a method to ensure a stop to poaching and shooting for varmint control (if you raise chickens or sheep in eagle country in an open lot you'll learn to dislike raptors pretty quickly).