I need ideas to use feathers

[Gardentoad]

I have been collecting feathers that my greenwinged macaw molts for years. Some of them are 22" long tailfeathers all the way down to the 3/4" long breast feathers. I didn't save the real tiny head feathers.

I want to make something that I can hang on the wall. I don't know what I would glue or stich them to. I thought of just laying them in a circle or diamond pattern on wood or leather but I don't know what would look good in the center. I've had Merlin for 10 years so I have a lot of feathers. I traded some of the long tail feathers to a friend for some blue and gold macaw feathers so I have about a dozen of them that are blue outside and yellow inside. The G.W. tail feathers are blue on the outside and red on the inside. The longest wing feathers are blue out and red in also. Some of the smaller wing feathers are red with a green tip, all green or green with blue tip or edge. They are mostly red inside. The rest, small feathers, are mostly red on both sides but a few have all three colors.
I have dreamcatchers and I don't want another one of them. I really want to use the long feathers in some sort of design.

Anyone have any ideas?

[Ginger]

I have been thinking about this, could you try creating a mosaic or an abstract of some type? Lay the feathers out and see what kind of design you can get out of the colors and sizes. Or, maybe design a Parrott using the feathers?

Ginger

[Gardentoad]

I have played some. I like the look in a diamond or spiral pattern. My problem is more on how to put it together. i don't know if I should glue them down on a board or leather or stich them to a cloth. Would glue last for a long time? would cloth or leather drape when it's hung up?
Would keeping it clean be a problem with them fanned out? Birds make your house extra dusty.
I could try to find a way to use them in small groups like they hang on a dreamcatcher, but not using the dreamcatcher web.

I don't know what to cover the (bird) end of the feather with in a fanned out design. I can overlap them with smaller feathers to a point but what do I put in the center after they are layed out.

I have a couple decorative wooden masks that I thought about placing them around. The masks are African though and the bird the feathers are from is South America.

[Justme]

Actually saw something on a design show (HGTV) last week. They took several long feathers and arranged them on a large sheet of ?? paper? just sort of very straight forward, vertical design, framed.

You might think about some sort of shadow box with glass over it. I might be more inclined to stitch to fabric, stretch fabric over a foam core board and put in framed box with glass to keep clean. Then if you tire if it, it will be easier to change out.

Tami

[Gardentoad]

That's a great idea. I never thought about a shadowbox. It would be so easy to keep clean too.

[otnorot]

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/feathers/