New quills

Wandering through town before Christmas (yes it was that long ago since the last post) I spotted an A-board outside one of the butchers advertising braces of pheasants. I stuck my head round the door and asked if they were prepped in-house or supplied plucked and ready, and the answer came back that they were from a local game dealer, a name I knew already although I'd never met the fellow, along with directions to the place.

A quick phone call and a polite request and I had an invitation to pick up some pheasant tail feathers, so off I went. 10 minutes later and I'm a happy boy...

Not bad for a quick call and short drive, that lot should last me a while. Time's been short to spend on floats since then, but I've managed some crucian quills for those especially delicate biters....

What they don't show off very well due to the shorter stem is the beautiful striations on some of the quills. Surprisingly you can't see them before you've removed the vane or herl, some feathers have quite plain colouring but the striping on the rachis (the quill) is striking, and others not so you don't know what you're going to get until you've stripped the herl to see. Some feathers also have different levels of colouration on the herl each side of the rachis and therefore so you can get one-sided colouration on the quill, but some of them are quite striking. Here's a couple of examples of floats in progress, firstly balsa and cork wagglers....

Second a balsa and quill Avon, also in progress...

I'll put photos up of the finished articles once complete