Most masks are created using rooster hackles, ring-neck pheasant feathers and peacock eyes.

The more exotic, patterned and colorful masks are created using a variety of Oriental pheasant feathers such as Lady Amherst, Silver, Golden and Reeves Pheasants and Macaw plumage

I also use Ostrich Plumes and some Mallard Duck wings.

Do you raise or
rescue exotic birds?
Would you like
a special piece made from the feathers you have been collecting for years?
Or sell them
to help pay for their food?
Contact me juliafantafaces@comcast.net
and let’s see how much fun we can have together using these beautiful treasures.

Every bird,
every individual feather
is unique,
just like snowflakes.
No two are alike.
No two people
are the same.
We each have
our own special gift.
You have to find
a different approach
to “what is” by using
a different vantage point.

Ring-neck Pheasant tails are used for the tall wings or crowns.

No pheasants are native to America.

The Ring-neck Pheasant was introduced from China in 1733.

One of more than 40 species originating in Asia and Asia Minor, these birds are from the genus Phasiaunus and are perhaps better known than any of the other 15 groups of pheasants in the world.

No pheasants are endangered. Breeders in the States and the Orient exhibit many beautiful specimens for show and for breeding.

All the Oriental pheasants have have extremely long tails and I use those for the curled masks. They have very dramatic feather patterns and bright colors.

Silver Pheasants have a long black crest, a black chin and throat with a glossy bluish-black belly. The body feathers are black lines and white. Their tails can be quite long with the central feathers pure white.

Lady Amherst Pheasant tails are long and ornate and is arched. Although have more solid colored feathers they are among the showiest of birds. Their feathers range from white with the iridescent green edges, to solid iridescent green and some gold and red feathers that also have iridescent green edges.

Golden Pheasants have a full, silky golden-yellow crest with perhaps a slight tinge of red at the tip. The feathers range from a rusty tan to pale yellow and a light orange. They also have some iridescent green feathers. The tail feathers are black, spotted or cinnamon striped.

Reeves Pheasants have very dramatic patterns in their brown, black and gold colored feathers.
All the Oriental pheasants have tails up to 6’ long.

Peacocks are also a type of Pheasant. They molt their tail feathers for about three days each year

I handle each feather many times. I search for a group of feathers with a similar pattern on the pheasants to use as the eye accents. Each feather, whether it is a rooster hackle or a small pheasant feather, it has to have the down clipped off before they can be used.

 Rooster hackles come on long strings sewn together in various natural colors.

I hand dye the white ones with Cushing’s Perfection Dyes to get the rainbow of colors beyond the natural feathers.

To dye feathers, you must boil them for 30 minutes or longer.

The most difficult part of dyeing feathers is the getting them to dry properly and resume their original shape. I hang them outside and let the wind help fluff them. The weight of the water can cause them to bend one direction, so I also need to switch how they are hanging often. And sometimes they need to be fluffed in the dryer on gentle.

to be nobody
  but-yourself
in a world which is doings its best,
  night and day,
to make you everybody else
  means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight;
  and never stop fighting.   
                   e e cummings