Steaming Feathers
Posted by Justin Quan on Jul 21st 2016
We have a big warehouse full of feathers. Probably more feathers than any person should have :) When I'm fortunate enough to get a customer on the phone talking about buying feathers, one of the things I always try to mention is steaming feathers. Depending on the type of feather, the affect is more or less dramatic. With a duck feather, there's not much change. With a peacock feather or pheasant tail, it can be like watching a time lapse video of a flower blooming. Add to that a quick blow dry at the end and you're feathers will really be looking their best.
How does one steam a feather? Its really not hard at all, but I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't give you a step-by-step. First, you'll need a nice jet of steam. A tea kettle or garment steamer works well. We use Jiffy hat steamers. Next, wave your feather up and down the length of the quill and side-to-side. You can go fast with the side-to-side, but keep the motion along the quill slow enough that each bit of feather is well exposed to the steam. You'll see when the feather stops expanding, you can move on to the next part. After you've steamed the entire feather, then give it a quick, hot blow dry to remove the steam moisture and give it one last fluff. This is where ostrich feathers really start looking their best. That's it. Here's a couple videos of how we do it.