My great aunt from Holland used to own a small haberdashery. I’ve inherited several reels of: cotton and embroidery thread, elastics, needles, ribbons…..; just what you would expect from a contemporary haberdashery minus the antique labels. Among the plethora of usual items I have the most magnificent array of bird feathers! These were used to adorn ladies hats and were sold alongside the tiniest tiniest delicate gloves (sadly most of these are too small for me to wear).
Naturally, I haven’t the faintest idea how to identify these bird feathers. So I have photographed them in order to show them to the UOB scientists. Perhaps I can find a way of using them in my sculptures and that will be my aunt’s remote contribution to the project.
