Hiya,
I cant remember seeing anything about this before but if its been talked about already on P&S sorry for bringing it up again and could you point me in the right direction.
I have bought a couple of Ostrich feathers to try and use as hair for my next puppet and I was just wondering what the best way to attach it to the head of my puppet was. I just wanted a nice Tuft of it on top a bit like Fraggle hair really.

Looking at puppets I've seen ,Fraggles, Members photos on P&S etc. it kind of looks like each little strand of the feather is cut off and stuck or stitched onto the head. is that right?
I'd really appreciate anybodies help and advice.

cheers Spam 

Are the feathers already in a "boa"?  In other words are the stitched together?  If they are then you can simply cut off about an inch or so of them and then "pull" the feathers back so you can get to the base where they are stitched together. You then stitch that to the head of the puppet in a small circle.

Thanks for your reply Shaun.
Heres a photo of something similar to what I have. I may have made a BooBoo and bought the wrong thing, but you live and learn.
again any help and advice will be very gratefully recieved.

cheers Spam 

First you need to learn the different types of feathers that come from the ostrich............. Here is a good site to learn from
http://www.ostrich.com/

I believe what you have is called a drab. Most either pluck from a large plume or use the fringe.

Hope this helps.

Billy D.

Wow great site cheers Billy D. And they have a UK based site, just the job for me.
thanks for the help.

cheers
Spam 

Feathers fringe and trimmings might be a better option for you when it comes to hair for your puppet.  I think your type of feather would need a lot of them to do what you want. 

Daryl H

Who knew there were so many different types of ostrich feathers... LOL
Shawn: I like the feather Boa idea...I never thought of that...

If there is enough "meat" at the bottom of the feathers you can bind them together with thread.  Thread a small needle and knot it. Then take a very small piece of felt and thread it on to the thread. This well help to keep the knot from pulling through the base of the first feather. (Note:  This is a handy tip for keeping your knot from pulling through other materials like foam.) 

Now thread your first feather on and add to the group as many as you want. Once you have the amount you want wrap some thread around the base of all the feathers and knot it off. You should now have clump of feathers with a sturdy base that you can sew to the head of your puppet.

If you want to do this quick and dirty you could just use a glue gun to glue each feather to the puppets head.  Try to limit the amount of glue you put on each feather base. In fact I often simply stick the base of the feather into the tip of the glue gun about 1/2", which seems to give just the right amount of glue.

What you have is workable but it is easier to use a feather boa since then they are already strung together. You can also use a glue gun if you want on feather boa's.  You just have to be real careful to get the glue only at the base.