Burners and Cutters

[Traditionalist]

An interesting technique for forming wings is the use of wing burners, these are tools which look like specially made tweezers, usually formed of sheet brass. The feather to be shaped is placed in the burner, which is then held tightly closed with the fingers, and the excess material is then singed off using a gas lighter flame or similar, matches or candles should not be used, their flames are very sooty and will discolour the material and the wing burner, which should be kept clean anyway by wiping occasionally with a kleenex or coarse cloth, do not apply the flame directly to the burner, just hold it close around the edges of the burner where the excess material is to be removed.



This technique depends on the feather having a central stalk or quill, as the fibres would otherwise not retain their shape, or just fall apart after being burned. Any feather with a central quill may be used, but usually hen or cock hackles are used.

Burning quills has a slight secondary advantage as well in that the fused ends of the fibres retain their shape better. Wings formed in this manner can be made to look very realistic indeed, at least to human eyes. It is also possible to form latex sheet and some other materials using wing burners, but be careful, some materials may flare up when burned, or melt and damage your burner.

Volatile materials such as varnish, thinners, glues and some floatants should be kept well away from open flames by the way, given a correct vapour mixture with air these materials may even explode, which may tend to dampen one´s dressing enthusiasm somewhat.

Yet another method of forming wings is a set of small sharp pre-formed cutters mounted on the end of plastic or metal stamps. They are shown in the photo alongside the burners . These are used to stamp out wings from hackle feathers and similar. Like the burners they must be used either on solid material like plastic or on feathers with a central quill, and they should be used on a surface which "gives" a little such as an old mouse pad or piece of vinyl. This ensures a clean cut, and saves damage to the cutters. Feather material glued to fine nylon mesh, such as a ladies stocking, stretched over an embroidery frame, may also be formed using this technique, and makes nice looking wings albeit rather on the heavy side.