Walking the beach Friday, I was fortunate enough to happen upon a seagull wing that was no longer in use!
A great opportunity to try out the online technique for turning feathers into quill pens.
So first, I extracted the useable feathers from the rest of the wing.
Then I followed the instructions on the website, which meant gathering sand (fortunately we live close to a beach) heating it in the oven for half an hour, then
plunging the quill ends into the sand.
They stayed there until the sand was cool. The next part involved cutting the nibs into the quills. I’m not certain I did this step correctly, as my nibs didn’t look quite as detailed as the photos show. But the first nib I used with india ink worked great.
The second – unfortunately the one I gave as a gift, was not as agile as a nib. If/When I do it over, I’ll heat the sand longer, and leave them in the sand overnight. I might have rushed the process a bit.