Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Arrows => Topic started by: JW_Halverson on August 26, 2015, 09:49:23 pm
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That's what I thought when I pulled off the masking and saw what I had done with fading the black into the white.
(http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo100/JW_Halverson/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150826_131543002_zpsalblily0.jpg) (http://s365.photobucket.com/user/JW_Halverson/media/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG_20150826_131543002_zpsalblily0.jpg.html)
Ash shafts from Allegheny Mountain Arrow Woods. Not sure how I am going to fletch. Likely turkey wing with either white or black cock feathers.
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Wow.... I am certainly paying attention to this thread!
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The ospreys that we have around here have feathers that would match that perfectly. Too bad its illegal to even pick them up off the ground.
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Neat looking. Did you use a airbrush for the black.
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Very cool, John.
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Those are already beautiful. Never thought a simple black and white fade job would look so cool! Can't wait to see the finished product! Patrick
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Nice ! Bob
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Man them look good, I like. :)
Pappy
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Sweet, can't wait to see them finished
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What about white feathers with black fades to match the shaft? You could always put a tactile cock feather locator on the nock, something like a small bump of epoxy.
Grady
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Canadian snow goose feathers might be cool, close to the same colors but faded in the opposite direction.
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I'd say go with eagle feathers. >:D
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I'm with Pat on this one. >:D and bet you know where to pick up a few. ;) :) :)
Pappy
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I love doing color fading on arrows. Those are sweet looking!! You're going to post them when they're finished tight?!?! :D
G
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Im not a goose feather fan as they wear way too fast, but man would they look sweet on those shafts.
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If you want a REALLY classy look, just put some hot pink TrueFlights on there.
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those really look good so far.....
DBar
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Neat looking. Did you use a airbrush for the black.
Nope, can of spraypaint, enamel.
Im not a goose feather fan as they wear way too fast, but man would they look sweet on those shafts.
1) You assume I am actually going to pick up a bow and do some shooting. Hmmph!
2) More likely to just plain lose 'em.
What about white feathers with black fades to match the shaft? You could always put a tactile cock feather locator on the nock, something like a small bump of epoxy.
Grady
Kicking around trying to do the whatchacallit where you blend two feathers together. (sorry, having difficulty with words today. Happens when I am in a lot of pain.)
And since I am the guy that always tells others to post pics because I can't read, I suppose I should post pics when I get these done. Just don't hold your breath, I may work slow but I can still make a lot of mistakes.
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those really look good so far.....
DBar
More pics more pics..... :) ;)
DBar
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Spliced?
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Spliced?
Wellllll...I like that idea Pat.......
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J dub only losers don't lose arrows. I wouldn't hang around guys that carried the same arrows every year. Talk about boring.
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How are feathers spliced exactly? Goose quill, eagle vanes?
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And will different species interlock, or whatever the right term is?
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Spliced?
Yes! Spliced was the word I was looking for. My back is wrecked (racked?) and I have had to chose between gas for the Jeep or visit to the cracter-practor. I have an apt for Monday, yay me!
I got the nocks hand cut today and retouched the white paint. Went looking for black thread to wrap ahead of the nocks and realized I had a half finished sewing project sitting there, so I finished that! Then I needed to get up out of the chair and move, so I went to the backyard and dug, chopped, chainsawed, and pulled a stump.
I know, sounds counterproductive, but I needed to work on some range of motion exercise. I worked smarter and not harder, felt much better after that stump popped outa the ground like a loose tooth out of a socket! Whoowah!
I will probably do the thread wraps on the arrows tonite after work as a winding down exercise in the garage.
Meanwhile I am off to see if I can find that fairly recent thread on how to splice feathers.
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This has been in the back of my mind for awhile. My wife owns a beauty salon so I got her to bring home some black hair dye. I did a few trials and this is the best. This is on white domestic turkey feather. I didn't use whole fletches so you'll have to use your imagination. It doesn't rub off and they still preen nicely. I think I will try an arrow. With a little practice it would look good.
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Well now then. I know what my hunting arrows are gonna look like this fall....
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DC, the fading and smudging is accurate to eagle feathers. I do believe I am heading to the beauty supply store for some black hair dye.
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Oh man I am excited to see this!!!!
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I bet I could get the speckling effect by dipping toothbrush bristles in the dye and using that to spatter the speckles and flecks. Hmmm, hmmmm, indeed!
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My wife gave me a different formulation that may be gentler on the feathers. I'll let you know. The hair dye is not a liquid. It's a two part pasty cream. When I put it on with a brush it kind of left a hard line which didn't look great. I'm going to try to dab it on with a sponge. These hair dyes come in a massive assortment of colors. The one I posted above has a bluish tinge when not left long enough. Bald eagles up here tend to lean to the brownish black so the stuff I got this time is hopefully more realistic.
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Here's what I got. With a little more fiddling it should look great. I can't help but see a dyed fake feather, but that's the way I am.
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Oh dang, son! That looks better than the ones you can get from the different suppliers.
Can you tell me your process to get that?
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My wife says to go down to the store and get the darkest hair color you can. If it has a code on it what you are looking for is something like 2N. I used 3N on this one. The number is the darkness from 1-10, 1 being Spanish and 10 being Swedish. The N stands for neutral but there are a bunch more A-ash, R-red, like that. Remember this stuff is for hair, not feathers so results vary. 3N worked well because it tend toward brown so if it comes out a little light it looks brownish which works because eagles are brownish black. The first one I tried was 1A and it looked blueish when it was too light. Anyway the stuff comes in two parts. You mix it 50/50 by weight. It's a pasty cream. I dabbed it on with a torn sponge and it looks like it. There must be a better way. Once its on let it sit for 45 min, covered with something so it doesn't dry out, and rinse it off. My feathers feel natural with lots of body >:D >:D. They preen like they always did. I've been trying to come up with a method that doesn't leave a sharp edge, I want it to fade into the rest of the feather. I haven't thought of anything yet. If I can help any more let me know.
You're the one I wanted to talk to about this. When I Googled eagle feathers I kind of got side tracked to fake eagle feathers. They showed these white feathers with a black tip. It took a while to dawn on me that eagles don't look like that. At least not ours. Not a black tip on the bird. What kind of eagle are these fake eagle feather manufacturers copying?
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Lot of variation in eagle feathers depending on age and species. Never really can tell for sure!
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If you're looking for a gradient/blurred edge, I'd go back to the feather after about half of the time has passed that you're setting the dye and add a bit more fresh to the edge. That way the edge will have dye sitting on it for only half the time that the rest of the feather, and should be lighter as a result. If you wanted to blend it further, then half the time again and brush on more onto fresh feather. Also, they have flat brushes for putting dye on hair, that might work as well/better than a sponge since the bristles can get in between the feather tines.
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Is the hair dye thin enough to spray through an airbrush? You should be able to do really nice fades if it was.
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Is the hair dye thin enough to spray through an airbrush? You should be able to do really nice fades if it was.
That is a good idea. Some is thick like a gel, but I assume it can be thinned.
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It's quite thick. Like ketchup. Way too thick for an airbrush. I'm sure thinning it would result in a very washed out grey. As for putting it on in layers, I'd thought of that and am going to try it. I think it's going to step down in bands though. Maybe I could put some on and then pull some of it down the feather with a wet(plain water) brush. I'll see if I've got time to try a couple of things this afternoon.
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This is cool stuff. Who woulda thunk a beauty salon could be such a practical wear house for us primitive archers. Strong peroxide for bleaching skulls and bones and now strong hair dye to dye feathers and such. Good stuff!! dp
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http://g03.a.alicdn.com/kf/UT8l.yJXhNeXXagOFbXo/122962447/UT8l.yJXhNeXXagOFbXo.jpg is the kind of brush I'm talking about by the way. It's designed to work with the goopy thick dye, while a normal bristle brush will just have the dye clump and slide off.
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I've got one of those brushes. It didn't work any better/different than the sponge. It actually might have made the edges sharper which is not what I'm after. I tried a couple more. The top one is smearing with a wet brush, the bottom is 3 layers 15 min apart, each one getting bigger, like you suggested. I think I can see where it might be working a bit but it still needs work. The pen is just to hold the feathers flat. This was with a different dye which is why its browner. I'll go back to the other dye. Nosense changing to many things.
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I did a couple more with the original dye and it behaves slightly differently. So I think what you will have to do is buy the hair dye of your choice and then experiment a bit. In this picture again the bottom is layered 15 min apart and the top one is pulled down the feather with a wet brush. The wet brush didn't work as well this time because this dye is oil based. Anyway I'm liking the results and I will be using it. It's a little fussy and I'm sure someone will come up with a better way. Maybe Rit. The top picture was taken without a flash and the bottom with a flash. The true color is closer to the bottom.
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Dont let a warden catch you with those! Your gonna have a time convincing him they aint real....
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Looking really good! You might be able to add a brown tint afterwards by letting the tips sit in coffee grounds, but I'm not sure how that would affect the feathers. People do it all the time to make paper look aged in calligraphy.
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Im thinking RIT dye is way cheaper and prolly easier to do but have only used it by dying the whole feather... Brian
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Rit you could probably do with an air brush but I've tried using an airbrush and I suck at it. Big learning curve there.
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I think think the Golden Eagles, have the black tipped tail feathers. We have a lot of Golden eagles out here. Big Boogers! Too bad you don't have any Tern Feathers...... Then your arrows would Tern, Tern, Tern, tis the season, Tern, Tern, Tern ...... ::) sorry. I hope your back gets straightened out. I torqued mine a couple of days ago, got it mostly better, but I am going to see my Chiropractor, tomorrow. I was taking a bag of feed out of the back of my truck, and tossed it on right shoulder, and took it into the house, and then went back to get the other bag, and tossed it on my left shoulder, and tossed too much, and it kinda went a little too far and I caught it, and torqued my middle back. Went to the lumber yard, and bought a bunch of 2x4's, and torqued it again. Was walking like Frankenstein. Hurry up and finish those arrows, camera, pictures.
Wayne
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I've had good luck spraying india ink through my airbrush. Dye may bleed if exposed to water afterward.
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You should try some Rit dye in your airbrush. Report back here :D
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do you mix rit with alcohol?