How to Set Feathers In Resin

Feathers off my birds, ethically sourced.

[@populadopula]

This was super helpful to me starting out!! I had a very special feathered friend that passed away and I want to preserve the feathers I kept from her in resin. You're a life saver!

[@mendesarmy6096]

Same! My budgie passed on and I want to remember her.

[@IzzysaurusHax]

Same here, my cockatiel passed on and I want to cast one of his crest feathers.

[@peggyjohnsonmusic]

I am new to crafting, was looking for how to preserve a bird feather and found this video on using resin. Fabulous! Thank you for posting it and for expanding my knowledge on the tools of the trade. Plus the tiny frame of your birds’ feathers is a precious work of art.

[@tammyforgette8117]

This was extremely helpful to me! ☺️ I was looking at making Christmas presents with feathers and resin and was unsure if it would work. I did not want to waste my resin or my feathers. I did see other posts online that showed feathers were something that did not work in resin but you have obviously proven those others wrong. Thank you! Because my ideas are something that would be very personal for each person!

[@Just_Jillian]

Awesome! It looks so pretty! Even better knowing I can use all the packing tape I have as a base 😂

[@mikescombatgames]

Thanks a ton! That tutorial was exactly what I needed to understand how to protect the feather’s shape as it’s encased. On a hopefully helpful note: if you have multiple birds plucking or mutilating feathers the most likely culprit is one of two things. One of those is boredom. I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that your birds get plenty of interaction and time out of the cage, and have plenty of safe toys that they enjoy shredding. (If only bird pleasure wasn’t measured in whether they destroy the item in question. Oh well. Our wallets will survive somehow.) The other major culprit is their diet. Maybe look into a pellet diet and make sure that they’re getting more fresh foods (...and of course, bird digestion can be picky about which fresh foods are better ...or even toxic). BirdTricks here on KZbin helped me with my birds’ diet more than anything else. Sounds like your birds are otherwise happy, which is awesome. I’d suspect that a diet shift would just make them even happier. Thanks again for the tutorial!

[@bonkerstooru]

Thank you for this tutorial!

[@huckaday]

Great video. I have worked quite a bit with resin over the years and find that a quick blast with heat gun is very effective, and fast, at lifting those bubbles out. (Much better than a flame I find) It also can temporarily revert your resin back to a more liquid state if you need it to fill in a area....but you have to be careful not to get the resin too hot because it also can rapidly set the resin to a rubbery state, and sometimes leave a yellow tint if it's really "over cooked." But that only happens if you use your heat gun like its just a hair drier or something. If you are aware of how fast it heats up, you'll be fine. I also give my resin a quick blast while mixing so it thins and mixes better...and gets rid of bubbles too! My heat gun and my dremmel are my most used tools for my jewelry making and art! :)

[@tammyforgette8117]

I know that this comment is a year old but I wanted to mention that for small items like jewelry I have used my kitchen torch. I agree that the heat gun is wonderful but can be too hot at times. The kitchen torch is nice because it’s a more directed heat for small items. Plus it’s easy to adjust the heat by reducing or extending the flame. One thing that nobody ever states though is that you must be very careful because you can burn the resin if you’re not careful. If you do see this I would love to hear how you use your Dremel with resin if that is something you do.

[@Feedyourchickens]

This is so pretty! I plan on casting some of my roosters feathers once his colorful feathers come in

[@kmcrafts9400]

That sounds fun, what kind of rooster is he? I've had silkys before but their feathers are not good for casting.

[@kaleidoscope8276]

I love to do this, can you post what the finished product came out to look like?

[@renewalof48]

Love it.

[@kmcrafts9400]

Thanks, feathers were the first thing I set in resin many years ago.

[@animalmombie]

Just curious if those were conure feathers? 😊 Couldn't quite tell, but that's what they looked like to me

[@animalmombie]

But also, how do you get them to lay the way you want if you can't use tape as the back?

[@ursoshrexy7873]

So do we put the resin in first or the feathers first?

[@georgexanthopoulos6690]

You picked the dullest color feather to demonstrate a dark frame with a dark color feather?????

[@vanessaelisebutler]

Where did you get that bezle? What would that be called if I was looking for one like it?

[@kmcrafts9400]

This bezel is made by Tim Holtz and I got it at Jo Anne's. I think it was being marked as a frame in the papercraft section. Thank you for watching! 😳

[@DIYPaperArtistRD]

good idea

[@kmcrafts9400]

They make a really great keepsake. I have been doing this for years in bottle caps.

[@mendesarmy6096]

Hi (again) sorry to bother you but let's say the resin I'm using is black(for greater effect) against feathers like Blueberry's. Do I do the bottom layer(black) let it harden, add the feather and then use clear resin for the top layer? Or am I supposed to do it another way if I want it to be black

[@kmcrafts9400]

No bother, yes that's exactly what I would do. Alternatively you could glue down a black piece of paper cut to the size of your bezel for the same effect but less cureing time. The paper does have texture though so that may not be the look you are going for.

[@mendesarmy6096]

Tysm!

[@hundemaik8578]

Pretty

[@kmcrafts9400]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed this.

[@citritx]

Ooh. What kind of birds for you have?

[@kmcrafts9400]

I have a Quaker parrot and a Blue masked lovebird.😁 thank you for watching.

[@citritx]

KM Crafts ah adorable! Thanks. The video was wonderful. I have one cockatiel and two lovebirds!

[@mendesarmy6096]

Will it still work if I use a thin feather(kinda like Blue berry's feather) alone?

[@kmcrafts9400]

Yes, it will work very well with thin feathers by themselves! Thanks for watching.

[@mendesarmy6096]

Thank you!

[@rhiannandonnell2634]

@@kmcrafts9400 it didn't work for me The resin made the white feathers nearly compeltely disappear

[@randomuser2212]

​@@kmcrafts9400my feathers seemed to make my feathers look dull. Is there a solution to this?

[@snehapriya.b4287]

I hav crow

[@debehall7771]

I personally would have liked to see how it turned out....hmmm nice work though, good tips

[@Stu81]

It won’t be any different once cured.

[@katosmiaumiau8210]

Oh dear, please use gloves!🙉🙊🙈