Faux Bald Eagle Feather

The past couple of days I have been in the process of making an arrow award for one of our cub scout’s arrow of light ceremony. One of my favorite things to add to the arrow is an eagle feather. To me this is symbolic that even though your journey has completed in cub scouts, you are now on a new path… the path to eagle.

To make your faux bald eagle feather you will only need a few items.

• White Turkey Feathers

• Black Ink

• Cup / Paint Brush

There are two ways to apply the black ink to the tip of the turkey feather. One method is having a large and deep enough cup or container that you can dip the tip of the feather into. This usually involves more ink than I want to use in one sitting. The second method is applying the ink with a paint brush. This method is in the following video. Be extra careful with splatter from the paintbrush as it is impossible to remove any unwanted black marks from the feather. I have also found that using calligraphy ink gives you a rich dark black as some other inks tend to leave a blue hue where the black and white meet together as it dries.

Why not a real bald eagle feather?

What if I live in an area where I can find bald eagle feathers?

The eagle feather law provides many exceptions to federal wildlife laws regarding eagles and other migratory birds to enable Native Americans to continue their traditional spiritual and cultural practices.

Under the current language of the eagle feather law, individuals of certifiable American Indian ancestry enrolled in a federally recognized tribe are legally authorized to obtain eagle feathers. Unauthorized persons (that’s me) found with an eagle or its parts in their possession can be fined up to $250,000.

$250,000 fine!! Ya… I’m good with the faux feather.