Had about 25-30 turkey feathers left so I ground, chopped, and dyed them yesterday. Been wanting to try my hand at dying feathers for awhile now and had a hankerin' for some Red Barred Turkey Feathers so here's what I did.
First run a sink a few inches deep with hot water and a couple drops of dawn dish liquid, then toss the feathers in there to soak.
Then follow this recipe.
1 1/2 cups water 2/3 cup white vinegar (probably could have done with less vinegar?) and you could double the recipe for a larger batch.
You may need to add another packet of kool aid mix if you add more liquid to the recipe, depends on how dark you want them.
I used the old style kool aid with no sugar added, just die and flavoring.
Heat in microwave for 4 minutes, then stir in 1 packet of Cherry Kool aid. Put back in micrwave for 1 more minute while feathers are floating in the kitchen sink, they only need about 5-10 minutes to remove a little bit of the natural oil.
Remove from microwave, stir again and drop feathers in. No need to rinse them, I just shake the excess water off and toss them into the Kool aid/vinegar solution. I left mine in there for about 15 minutes cause I wanted them nice and dark!
Here's the results.
The 3 solid ones on the right were bright yellow and I just threw those in to see what they would turn out like......bright red was the result.
