I'm familiar with it. It shapes the crest temporarily. What I mean by that is when you frame the fly and humidity gets to it the crest has the tendency to take on it's original shape. The other thing the glass does is mat down the fibers on the crest. I've found that by steaming them you can get the original shape and it's better to work with that. I try to use crests from the same neck and pull them from the same spot if I need them to match. You have to be very selective when you're picking out your crests to start with.
Regards, Deb -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Peter Gramp Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2005 8:26 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [VFB] Reshaping feathers I do prefer to steam feathers to get the "bounce" back into them, but I felt I should mention to Deb (regarding the Golden Pheasant Crest feathers) that if you take two crests of similar length, wet them in water, and let them "wet- stick" to the outside of some cylindrical container (drinking glass, etc) with the tips (not stems) touching, you get a wonderful matched pair of crests for the topping and underwing/ "bottoming" on a salmon fly. I'm not sure if this is old news, but it has saved me much time in trying to find the prized "2 per head" crest feathers that are the right length and curve to frame the married- slip wing. Just my 2 cents, Pete
