Thanksgiving is pretty much here and I wanted to make a fall wreath before we bring out the red and green.  So I unwrapped these beautiful Pheasant feathers Joseph brought home from a hunting trip and they were a little stinky.

Luckily I called my taxidermist friend from high school, Travis, with Travis Manning Custom Taxidermy and he kindly gave me some professional advice.  I gave these feathers a bath in Anti-bacterial Dawn dish washing soap and made sure to remove all the disgusting stuff off the quill.  Then I repeated until the water rinsed clear.

The feathers took a while to dry.  Travis said not to use a hot blow dryer so I was using the cool setting until I realized it was like watching a pot boil.  Then I just had to leave them under the fan for the afternoon.  The feathers were finally dry after my kids were in bed and I got to work.

I wanted to make a modern wreath like the paper straw wreath I had seen on the cover of a magazine in the grocery line, like a star burst.  So all I needed was hot glue, 2 six inch craft rings and manila rope from Home Depot.  I just wanted to sandwich the feathers between the two rings with hot glue, so I spaced out the feathers on top of the first ring:

Then I put a thick ring of hot glue on the quills and added the top part of the sandwich:

Next, I trimmed the quills so there would be a hole in the center:

Last, I covered the top ring with the manila rope.  Hot glue worked great:

I used a self-adhesive sawtooth hanger on the back ring, then ran a ribbon through it and hung it on the door!

These photos will gradually bring you closer to the wreath.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m ready to bring this Modern Pheasant Feather Star Burst Wreath inside and hang it on the wall!  If only I had more wall space for art.