How To Wear Your Plumes

superior quality imitation eagle plumes and featherwork for powwow dancers
9/1/10 NOTICE:  I am not accepting ANY new custom orders right now (see this).  Please check my "Regalia for Sale" pages for pre-made items when available.

 

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Tips for wearing plumes:
See advice for wearing and/or attaching featherwork to your powwow regalia.

Women's plumes
Men's plumes
Your own plumes

How to wear your women's plumes:

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Don't laugh; You'd be surprised how many photos I see of customers wearing their plumes backwards! 
Plumes have a natural curve to them.  Whether wearing in a crown or barrette, please turn your plumes so the tips curve over your head as shown in the photo.

Pocket Method: 

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Ties Method:

how to attach plumes
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Barrette Method:

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Glue a square of buckskin directly to the backside of a barrette, leaving an un-glued channel down the center for quill insertion.  This method will hold your plumes very securely.

Use thin buckskin thongs to tie your plumes to the backside of your barrette.  The ties are easily adjusted to hold your plume at any height you desire.

Use 2 barrettes to secure the plume directly to your hair, then if desired, wear your beadwork on top to hide the barrettes.

How to attach grass dancer antennae to a leather roach spreader:

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1) grass dancer plumes by walela49 have ~4" (or more) exposed springwire for attachment.

2) punch holes in your spreader where desired.

3) bend each wire at 1 horizontal right angle and 1 vertical right angle; cut away excess.

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4) insert wires as shown.

5) secure wires to spreader.

6) plumes will stand up when roach and spreader are tied on securely.

*PLEASE NOTE: these photos show an outdated style of grass dancer antennae which have white buckskin wrap all the way down the wires.  I no longer wrap buckskin all the way down the wires.  My newer antennae have bare springwire stems below the threadwork.  Attachment is still the same though, by bending your antennae wires near the cut ends, and securing them to the spreader as shown.

How to attach antennae to a metal spreader

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Brass and silver grass dancer roach spreaders made by Jim LaQuay of laquay's custom metalwork designs 1) bend antenna wire at right angle.  Remember to measure how high you want your antennae to stick up before you bend the wires! 2) insert wire into metal tube,
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3) bend inserted wire a bit to slip past other tube and pull wire securely into position as shown, 4) bend the pulled-thru wire at right angle to slip into place behind metal cup, 5) follow steps again for other antenna,
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6) cut any wire that is too long and extends past spreader edge.  Adjust upright wires if necessary to achieve proper position for dancing, 7) metal cups allow wires to be unhooked for storage without complete removal, 8) with wire tips unhooked, antennae will rotate back and fold down for storage.

How to attach your own plumes to my threadwrapped stems:

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1.) What you need: threadwrapped stem by walela49 (order here), your own plume, scissors, glue, wire cutters.   2.) Snip off tip of quill,   3.) cut away excess wire if needed (dry test first by inserting wire into your quill to see how far it goes), 
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4.) fill quill with glue (I suggest superglue gel),   5.) add a tiny bit of glue to top of threadwrap if needed, 6.) insert wire into quill, 
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other plumes disclaimer
7.) slide quill down until it touches threadwrap and allow glue to dry.  8.) This method works for all types of threadwrapped stems by walela49. Order your threadwrapped stems here. 9.) This method is NOT how walela49 builds "legal plumes". Order your custom legal plumes here, or buy ready-made legal plumes here

 

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Order your custom plumes here!

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Order other custom featherwork here!

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Order your custom threadwork here!

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Buy ready-made regalia here!

w49

A note from the artist:
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I am not an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribe, therefore I sell my work as Native American style.  I always disclose this information to comply with the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990.

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Written, designed, and maintained by Raegan King.
Copyright © 2008-2010 - walela49 - All rights reserved.
Revised: 01 September 2010 01:45:01 PM .

Use of any text or photos from this website is prohibited.
Beware of any imitator who claims to have photos of my work for comparison purposes. 
Copying and/or distributing photos of my work without my written consent is a violation of copyright law. 
Most genuine "legal plumes by walela49" bear my artist's mark.

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