On 14 Mar 2002 at 15:20, Gary Miller wrote: > So, the marabou feathers that are long with > stems that get somewhat thick at the base are good for palmering?
The upper part of the feather/stem can be palmered, but the result is generally pretty ugly. A bit better result can be had by splitting the stem with a sharp blade and palmer this 'half' feather. A further, slight, improvement can be had by fllattening this half stem. Personally I would use the marabou strands in a dubbing loop, no thick stem to get in the way. > When using the blood feathers for streamer wings, do you recommend > stripping the fibers from the stem, or using the entire feather (stem > and all)? I generally use the full feather. If the stem is a problem (when the wing length is close to the full length of the feather, I will snip away carefully any stem which is in the way. In other words, I will try to avoid having a (noticable) stem at the tie-in point. Cheers, Hans
