[Scriptoris] cutting feather quills

[Faelan Caimbeul]

X-acto knives work wonders. Just cut an angled slice off the end, then cut
your nib tip. It also helps if you trim back from the tip a little so that
it looks more like a modern tip. The design works better I've noticed.

Faelan

-----Original Message-----
From: scriptoris-bounces+faelancaimbeul=gmail.com at ansteorra.org
[mailto:scriptoris-bounces+faelancaimbeul=gmail.com at ansteorra.org] On Behalf
Of HL Lucia Piazetta
Sent: Thursday, April 06, 2006 2:16 PM
To: scriptoris at ansteorra.org
Subject: [Scriptoris] cutting feather quills

I have a quick question for this group, as I'm NOT a calligrapher by any
standards:
I just purchased some turkey feathers to try making some feather quill pens.
I was wondering if anyone has any tricks or tips on cutting them into good
pen tips.  My hubby suggested kitchen shears, so I tried it on one, and it
worked fairly well- I got a nice angled cut, which happened to also split
exactly down the tip much like a metal nib.  The only thing I don't like is
that the tip isn't particularly narrow, and it is a tiny bit ragged (it does
write OK for my purposes...as I said, I'm no calligrapher so my letters are
blobby and uneven anyway).  Does anyone cut them differently, and are there
advantages/disadvantages to using scissors over a knife?  I've SEEN them cut
with a knife, but I'm not sure I could control it well enough to get a good
cut.  I have about 7 more to play with, so I'm willing to experiment if
others have methods to try.  

-Lucia
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