posted 6 years ago
Hi, R!
I'm not familiar with doing it with goose feathers, but my dad and uncle used to raise ostriches. My dad saved the feathers for pens, as well - but, instead of turning them into quills, simply attached ball point pens, lol. I remember watching him collect some feathers, from the ground, and showing me which of the dirtier ones were worth saving, and how he cleaned them:
Those that were fairly clean, not covered in muck, were simply bathed gently in the sink, in gentle soap and warm water, gently patted dry, & hung upside down, to finish drying, and checked occasionally as they dried, for shaping adjustments.
Those that were kinda ucky were cleaned similarly, but with a slightly stronger soap, and the process began with manually eliminating as much of the uck as possible. The actual washing was slower, with more of the gentle manual working of the light lather, with alternating periods of soaking, and rechecking, for viability, until it was either deemed clean and usable, or unusable. Those that made the cut were then dried as the others.
In checking for & adjusting for shape, he used a paintbrush, from a child's water color set, that he picked up at a yard sale, for a penny, lol.
I hope this helps!
"The only thing...more expensive than education is ignorance."~Ben Franklin
"We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." ~ Plato
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