proud peacock

Sometimes I think I've seen it all in my 13 years in framing, but a moment after I think that somebody shows up with something out of the ordinary.  This time an interior designer came in with a single peacock feather and wanted to frame it up glamorously for one of her clients.

For this piece we started with a size first.  The finished frame had to fit in a narrow space, so we worked backwards from the finished size.  The feather was too long as is, but it was a little unruly at the bottom anyway.

I plucked some plumage from the bottom and set out to figure out my mounting technique.  While I had never framed a peacock feather before (or any kind of feather for that matter), I had worked with peacock feathers before.  Once I made a fancy peacock feather hair accessory fascinator for a special occasion, so I knew where on the feather I *could* glue if I had to.

But once I got into it, I found that I could use clear monofilament to secure the feather in just two spots to pass a stress test.  The attachments are practically imperceptible and completely adhesive-free.

Below it is nearly complete--just testing the fit without glass before fitting into the frame.  I cut the stem on the bias to look like a quill, installed a gold beaded fillet into the top mat (rust linen--the bottom mat is shiny blue silk :), and finished with a gorgeous gold art nouveau frame.

the completed project