She Makes Colorful Art From Pheasant Feathers

She Makes Colorful Art From Pheasant Feathers AG WORLD Barb Knoff knows how to accentuate the beauty of pheasant feathers Hunters and other homeowners love the ornaments wreaths wall hangings and other items she creates At 76 the Nashotah Wis self-taught artist started creating with feathers about a decade ago She was making jewelry at the time when she saw a poorly made feather ornament at a local business “I thought ‘I can do better than that’ ” Knoff recalls She starts with skinned pheasant pelts and dries them for a couple of weeks in 20 Mule Team Borax That preserves them so she can remove the feathers later Prepping the feathers is the most tedious because every feather has down that must be clipped off Knoff uses some of the down for fluffy centers on her ornaments but she focuses on the feathers and the rainbow of colors they offer “I have boxes of feathers that are all the same color ” she says She uses tweezers to place feathers one at a time onto her designs securing them with a dab of tacky glue applied with a skewer or toothpick “The feathers I use on a horse’s leg are smaller than a little fingernail ” Knoff says Ornaments $15 are her best sellers but she glues feathers on tanned deer hide to create wall hangings and dreamcatchers as well as horses bears butterflies and other creatures Some of the items are sold to hunters who are members of the hunting club where she gets her pheasant pelts Hunters often leave behind some of the pheasants they’ve shot and Knoff picks them up for free She removes the breasts and gives them away for food often to a local food shelf She also has a booth at the Brown Street Emporium in Oconomowoc Wis a 7 000 sq ft artisan mall “This is a hobby not a money-making process ” Knoff says when she considers the hours she puts into each piece Wall hangings range from $25 to $125 She loves to create and try new things such as the greeting cards she recently started making She also does commission pieces often using feathers from the pheasants that hunters bring to her to have a special piece made Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Barb Knoff Feathered Designs 345 Nashotah Rd Nashotah Wis 53058 ph 262 370-7868; barbknoff@gmail com

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