Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1875 — The Manufacture of Ornamental Feathers. [ARTICLE]

The Manufacture of Ornamental Feathers.

The PaU. Mall Gazette says: “An interesting account of the manufacture of ornamental feathers, an industry which employs about 240 working women and apprentices in Vienna, is given in the 4 Translations of Official Austrian Reports on the Universal Exhibition’ in that city last year. The coloring is done by men, the other processes mostly by women. African ostrich feathers are most usually manufactured. These are white, black, gray and dappled, and are classified according to quality as ‘ prima,’ ‘ secunda,’ etc. Other feathers frequent ly worked are those of the white heron, bird of Paradise and marabou (there are genuine marabou feathers and false). finest of all. The feather is cleaned first by a cold soap bath, well washed twice or thrice, and then put into warm soap baths, afterward well washed in cold water, then blued a little, pressed, and swung to and fro in the air until the hairs have spread and the feather is quite dry. Next, with a small, sharp knife, the strong rib at the back is cut away. The feather loses its stiffness and acquires pliability. With small feathers this is obtained by scraping the rib with glass. Then the hairs on each side of the rib are made to curl in with a blunt knife and the requisite uniformity of shape is given them by combing them over a slightly warmed iron. Next, in order to hide the rib, the worker, with a blunt knife, twists here and there some hairs of the feather spirally over the rib until it is completely concealed by them. The feather is then threaded with a wire, folded in paper and so completed. The same process is followed with gray and black ostrich feathers, except that the gray are generally and the blacks always colored. White feathers are only colored for some particular fashion of color, as rose, violet, etc. If the hair on a feather is not dense enough, or the feather is •defective, then two or three feathers are sewn together and curled. This is done with both short and long feathers. Long feathers are called 4 leaf feathers,’ ‘ Amazons;’ short feathers generally three of a bundle are called ‘panache.’ Single and sewn feathers are distinguished in both. The hair of the ostrich feather is also much used for the manufacture of fancy feathers —cockades, fringes, etc., are made of these. The feathers are twined by a machine, and then joined to the hairs of other feathers. These combinations are called ‘ pleureuses,’ and pieces of ostrich feathers are sewn together to alength of some ells, and called ‘bordures,’ and are used to decorate dresses. There is an American ostrich feather called ‘ vulture,’ which is worked like the *' African,’ but is inferior to it in quality. Tempting white feathers called marabou are much worked. They are used for fancy feathers; the points of small white or colored pigeon feathers and very small fragments of silk and the like are joined on to them. ‘ Bordures’ for ball dresses are made of them. It is evident from this account that ‘to show the white feather’ is a process which entails some trouble and expense.”