Quite by accident we discovered a fun activity this week. On a nature walk my son found this large feather from a wild turkey. The next day we were visiting a historical museum where we got the idea of using the feather as a writing instrument.
If you are unable to find large bird feathers where you live, the local hobby store will have some that may be suitable. Look for feathers that do not have a crushed tube and do have a significant portion of nearly transparent tubing underneath the plume of the feather.
You will need a very sharp cutting instrument such as an XACTO knife to cut the nib. Obviously, this is the job of a parent or very responsible older child.
To write with the pen, dip the tip into a jar of ink, then dab on a piece of paper towel before writing. We used black india ink that would have been a mess had it spilled (it didn't). You may want to use another more washable variety.
Since I was so nervous that the ink might spill, we got to thinking about the ink wells on old writing desks. We made our own version of an ink well using two 3"x3" blocks of wood. We drilled a hole in one (large enough to accomodate the ink bottle). We then glued the two blocks together. We gave our ink well three coats of polyurethane finish to protect it. The ink jar fits perfectly in the hole which prevents the jar from tipping.
If you want to learn much more about using feathers as quill pens, check out this website "Cutting Quill Pens from Feathers". For even more, detailed instructions for cutting the nib, as well as some very interesting historical information can be found here and here.
Submitted with special thanks to Thirsty Thursday and Show & Tell Friday.
