Feather Neckties Catching On Fast

Feather Neckties Catching On Fast FARM HOME Clothes 6-1-30 Joyce Gethen, of Zenda, Wis., uses whatever feathers she can gather on the farm, or collect from hunters, to create colorful feather neckties and jewelry that both city slickers and country people are buying up as fast as she can make them. "I grew up on a farm and was fascinated with the beauty of different colored bird and chicken feathers," Joyce explains. "When I visited my brother's pheasant farm, I found even more beauty in feathers. One day, the idea of taking the feathers and making full length neckties from them just came to me. "I bought some ribbon-type ties at a local men's store and used them for my first experiments," she explains. When she completed the first tie, she showed it to her son, an ardent hunter. He liked it and so did all his hunter friends who saw it. "He brought me a number of orders for feather ties and I've been busy making them ever since," Joyce recalls. "Each of the feathers I use in creating a tie has to be glued into place. That first tie took me one entire afternoon to make. Today, I can make one in about three hours." Although neckties are her most popular item, Joyce also makes bow ties, cowboy hat bands, flowers for women's hair, earrings and necklaces from feathers. She sells each of her creations for about $15. "I'm constantly looking for colorful feathers to add to my collection," she notes. "I keep feathers filed in boxes and labeled for color and type. If I need a particular feather, I can find it quickly." Joyce has to trim and glue each feather onto the tie separately. "It's a surprise to see what each tie will look like when completed. Each tie has a certain beauty of its own," she notes. Joyce asks that anyone desiring a feather tie send her a single-color tie of your choice that she can cover with feathers. "The tie should be made of some type of hard-finish material, like satin or brochaid, that will hold a crease. The feathers fall off a lot of the new synthetic materials because the glue won't hold when the material loses its crease. You should also tell me a little about yourself so I can adapt the tie, hat band or jewelry to your personality. Are you conservative or flamboyant? Do you want to look like a real cowboy or a sidewalk cowboy?" For more details, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Joyce Gethen, Zenda, Wis. 53195 (ph 414 275-6942).

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