Heather the Feather—The Best Small Pet Ever

I really, really wanted a pet when I was very young, but my parents told me it would be several years before I was old enough to responsibly care for fish, gerbils, or some other small creature. Around that same time I also really wanted a Barbie doll, but my mom thought that whole Barbie business—with all those little clothes and the Barbie mansion and fancy cars—was too materialistic.

Happily, I found a different fix for my pet-less, Barbie-less state—Heather the Feather!

When I first saw Heather, she was just one of a jumble of colorfully dyed chicken feathers mixed in with my mom's art and craft supplies. But she was a pleasing size and shape. She was so soft. And she was Barbie pink. I thought she was absolutely beautiful. I asked Mom if I could have her. (She said yes!)

Somehow I just understood that my feathery, new friend was named "Heather the Feather" and that I needed to get my hands on a proper pickle jar right away.

Back then, I spent hours designing furniture for Heather. I drew, colored, and cut out a little sink, a couch, and a TV, among other things. Then I cut these out and taped them to the inside of her jar. I placed Heather inside her newly decorated home and carried her around with me. Whenever she and I needed a change, I would move her furniture around or make her some new items.

It’s been more than 40 years(!) since I laid eyes on my original Heather the Feather and created a house for her. But she still captivates my imagination. In honor of our long-standing friendship, I've created a much fancier version of Heather the Feather for you here. I hope you enjoy her as much as I have.

Now, let's say you have no intention of making your own Heather the Feather. That's OK. I still think you're bound to get a little something useful out of this Instructable. . .

OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT GET FROM THIS INSTRUCTABLE

A great online resource for identifying mystery feathers! (See Step 1.)
Important legal information about the possession of certain kinds of feathers. (See Step 1.)
How to talk to young artists about their artwork—particularly if you have no idea what you're looking at. (See Step 1.)
How to make packing tape image transfers. (See Step 3.)
How (and when) to use photo transfer medium to make image transfers. (See Step 4.)

Step 1: Choose Your Pet Feather, a Jar, and Supplies.

My mom happened to have a whole bag of dyed chicken feathers lying around, because she was an art teacher for many years and a couple of her lessons necessitated feathers. (She also made some pretty inspiring meals.) Still, if you don't have ready access to a bag full of pretty feathers, I suspect most craft stores sell them.

It's probably worth noting, too, that the world is filled with stray feathers from wild birds. So, technically, you could find (and sanitize) a feather from a blue jay or a cardinal (or maybe even a nice, pink flamingo?) for your version of Heather.

However, depending on the type of feather you find, you could be running a-fowl of the law! According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, "The possession of feathers. . . of native North American birds without a permit is prohibited by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). This protects wild birds by preventing their killing by collectors and the commercial trade in their feathers, and extends to all feathers, regardless of how they were obtained." (Italics mine.)

If you find a neat feather, but you aren't sure just whose it was, you can check out The Feather Atlas. This is an amazing, easy-to-use (and free!) online tool for identifying different North American birds from a single feather.

FINDING THE BEST JAR

I've always used glass jars—even when I was very young. But those were looser times when people smoked cigarettes on airplanes and in libraries and when car seat belts were optional. So, if you are concerned about broken glass and potential injuries, you can always substitute a plastic container. Plastic jars that once contained peanut butter or mayonnaise can work perfectly well.

Whether plastic or glass, try to choose a jar with a wide mouth—wide enough that you can fit your hand (or at least a long pair of tweezers) inside. And, if possible, choose a jar that is smooth and unadorned. You want something that will offer an unobscured view of Heather and her lovely furnishings. You also want it to be positively spotless.

PREPARE YOUR JAR:

Carefully remove any sticky labels from the surface of the jar and the jar lid.
Immerse the jar in warm, soapy water and scrub off any remaining label and label glue.
Rinse and dry the jar completely. Inspect it for any bits of label or glue you may have missed. Wash again as needed.
Rinse and dry the jar lid. Inspect it for bits of label, glue, or signs of food, mold, or other organic matter you may have missed. Wash again until it sparkles. (You don't want to subject Heather to mold, do you?!)

A WORD ABOUT HEATHER THE FEATHER & YOUNG ARTISTS

Regular ol' Heather the Feather—the way I used to do it when I was very young—is a great project for little kids. In addition to a plastic jar, all they need for this is some paper, pens, pencils, crayons/paint, safety scissors, and tape. And, rather than going through all of the fancy-version steps below, young artists just draw, color, and cut out furniture for Heather's house. Then they tape their furnishings to the inside of her jar.

In this case, Heather the Feather is about agency—letting the kiddos decorate her house however they wish. It's about relaxing, having fun, and exercising their creativity.

So, let's imagine these young artists come back with a feather in a jar adorned with unidentifiable drawings. Don't say: “Is that supposed to be a couch over there?”

Instead try: "Ooooh! Would you and Heather please give me a tour of this lovely place?" or "Wow! Tell me about Heather and her Heather house!"

In general, asking open-ended questions like, "Tell me about your picture" is always a good way to approach young artists and their creative work. But I digress!

Want to make the fancy version of Heather the Feather? In that case, here's what you'll need. . .

OTHER STUFF YOU'LL NEED (besides your feather and jar)

paper, pens, colored pencils/paints
access to a color copier that produces laser prints using dry toner (not ink jet prints)
scissors
bone folder, popsicle stick, or similar implement
clear, heavy-duty packing tape
sponge
small bowl of water
Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium (or similar product)
small paintbrush or sponge on a stick
clean rags
clear-drying glue
Aleene's Original Craft Glaze (optional)
air dry clay (optional)

Step 2: Draw Heather's Furnishings and Make a Color Copy.

I used Rapidiograph pens and Prismacolor pencils to draw and color a few items for Heather's house. There's a strange floor lamp, fancy chair, coffee table with a vase of flowers, and a portrait of Heather with her parents. I also drew a messy/freehand black-and-white tiled floor.

Now, this could just as easily been items for Heather's kitchen or her bedroom. Maybe the bathroom or even a greenhouse. Or maybe an indoor swimming pool!? You get the idea... (Incidentally, if you'd rather not try drawing your own furnishings, you are welcome to use mine. I've included a printable PDF of those for you with this step.)

CREATING HEATHER'S FURNISHINGS

Draw a few things that you think she needs. Ideally, they should be properly sized so that they will fit inside her jar, as-is. (If you draw them larger than they should be, you'll have to reduce them when you make your color copies. If you draw them to be too small, you'll have to increase their size during copying.)
Color in the drawings. Use colored pencil, paints, crayons—whatever media you prefer. Keep in mind that areas within your drawings that you leave uncolored will be transparent.
Optional: If you have access to/are good with computers, you can scan your artwork and digitally edit elements if you wish. (I didn't like original power cord on my funny lamp, so I digitally swapped it with a replacement cord that I drew. I also punched up the color and fiddled with the sizes of some items.)
Have a few color copies made of your original art (or your digital file.) For the image transfer processes to work, the color copies must be laser prints made with dry toner. Ink jet-printed copies will not work.

heather the feather artwork final digital.pdf
Download

Step 3: Make Image Transfers of Heather's Furniture.

You can use heavy-duty, clear packing tape to transfer a laser printed image onto glass, wood, illustration board, and more. As image transfer methods go, this one is among the quickest and easiest.

MAKING IMAGE TRANSFERS OF YOUR COLOR COPIES

Cut color copy image to be transferred apart from the other images on your page of color copies.
Pull out a section of clear packing tape, making sure it is free from hairs or other debris.
Press image to be transferred face-down onto sticky side of tape.
Rub face of image with a bone folder, popsicle stick, or similar implement to help transfer the colored toner to the tape.
Cut away excess tape. Cut out image to be transferred, leaving a small paper margin all the way around.
Soak this cut-out, taped image in water for a couple of minutes.
Remove and gently rub back of image (paper side) with a slightly moistened sponge. Small amounts of the paper backing will come off as you do this.
Finish removing the remaining excess paper backing with your fingers. Rub very gently, so you do not tear the tape during this process.
Allow to dry. Check for additional traces of paper and repeat this process as needed until all of the paper backing is gone. You should be left with a clear bit of packing tape and your colorful drawing.

NOTE: Do not pour the waste water down any of your drains. It contains bits of paper pulp that can really clog up the works! Instead, dump it outside. You can pour it on your compost pile if you like. You can even cull out the paper pulp and use it to make recycled paper.

DEALING WITH ODD SHAPES

If you have drawn any unusually shaped items for Heather's house, you might want to cut sections of them apart, follow the image transfer steps as usual, and then reunite these pieces when it's time to put everything inside the jar. See "Dealing with Odd Shapes" image which accompanies this step for details.

I had some issues with my coffee table and vase of flowers. I had to try to transfer it a couple of times before I was finally happy with the result. First, I accidentally ripped off some of the spindly coffee table legs while I was removing the transfer's paper backing. During my second try, I didn't manage to get the tape to cover the image completely and had to patch with an extra bit of tape. I wasn't happy with how this looked. So, here's how I fixed that:

Cut the oddly shaped color copy into two smaller, manageable parts. If possible, do this along a natural seam or line, so that people won't notice it too much. I chose to cut the vase away from the table.
Pull out a section of clear packing tape, making sure it is free of hairs or other debris. And make sure it is long enough to accommodate each of the separated pieces.
Press images to be transferred face-down onto sticky side of tape.
Rub face of each image with a bone folder, popsicle stick, or similar implement to help transfer the colored toner to the tape.
Cut away excess tape. Cut out images to be transferred, leaving a small paper margin all the way around. (In the case of the table legs, I left a lot of paper margin intact, choosing to trim out the individual table legs only after the transfer was finished and completely dry.)
Soak these cut-out, taped images in water for a couple of minutes.
Remove and gently rub the back of each image (paper side) with a slightly moistened sponge. Small amounts of the paper backing will come off as you do this.
Finish removing the remaining excess paper backing with your fingers. Rub very gently, so you do not tear the tape during this process.
Allow to dry. Check for additional traces of paper and repeat this process as needed until all of the paper backing is gone. You should be left with a clear bit of packing tape and your colorful drawings. You will put these back together into one piece later in the Heather house-finishing process.

Step 4: Make an Image Transfer Decal for the Floor.

There are two reasons I didn't use the clear packing tape transfer method for Heather's flooring. First, the white areas of my black-and-white tiled floor would've been transparent. And, second, my packing tape was not wide enough to cover the entire floor artwork with just one piece. In other words, I would have had to match up two pieces of tape and hope it looked OK in the end. (See "Dealing with Odd Shapes" from Step 3 of this Instructable.)

Also, the image transfer decal method will produce a mirror image of your artwork. That means, if you include any lettering/words or if a specific orientation of the design is really important to you, you'll need to digitally (horizontally) flip your design before you color copy it.

FINISHING THE FLOOR WITH THE IMAGE TRANSFER DECAL METHOD

Cut out the color copy of the image to be transferred. Unlike with the packing tape transfer method, you don't need to leave any paper margin around your artwork this time. If you do, it will be included as part of the decal.
Place cut-out on wax paper and apply a generous amount of photo transfer medium onto the face of your artwork. (I used Mod Podge's Photo Transfer Medium, but there are probably plenty of other products that would work for this, too.)
Use a paint brush or sponge on a stick to spread transfer medium evenly over the face of your artwork. You shouldn't be able to see the design very well at all after you've completed this step.
Carefully pick up your very gooey artwork and flip it over onto a clean sheet of parchment paper. (The sticky, medium-covered side should be against the clean parchment.)
Use your fingers to gently smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles. The face of the artwork needs to make good contact with the parchment.
WAIT 24 hours before proceeding with this step. After 24 hours, the medium-covered artwork should have dried completely. At this point, moisten a sponge and dab it over the surface of the art. Get it uniformly soaked and then let it sit for a couple of minutes.
Wring out the sponge a little and then use it to very gently rub the surface of your artwork. Bits of the paper it was printed on should come off. Continue to gently rub until all of the paper is gone. (But don't rub too hard, as it is possible to damage your design decal in the process!)
After the decal has dried, carefully peel it away from the parchment paper. If you like, you can use scissors to neaten up its edges now, too.

Step 5: Design/Decorate the Jar Lid.

Back when I was a kid making my first Heather the Feather house, I drew a nice label for the lid, cut it out, and glued it on top of the lid. And there's really no reason you couldn't do that.

For this fancier version of Heather the Feather, though, I wanted my final product to be really durable with a polished look and feel. So, I worked on a couple of different jar lid designs in Canva.com, picked the one I liked best, and then used Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium to make an image transfer decal.

Now, as with Heather's flooring, I could've used the clear packing tape transfer method, but, if I had done so, the white areas in my design would've been transparent. Also, my packing tape was not wide enough to cover the entire jar lid artwork in one piece. As such, I would've had to match up two pieces of tape and hoped it looked OK. (See "Dealing with Odd Shapes" from Step 3 of this Instructable.)

By creating a transfer decal instead, I would preserve the white areas of my design and the size/shape wouldn't be a problem. Remember, for both the packing tape image transfer and the image transfer decal processes to work, the color copies you use must be laser prints made with dry toner. Ink jet-printed copies will not work. Also, as I noted previously, the image transfer decal method will produce a mirror image of your artwork. That means, if you include any lettering/words or if a specific orientation of the design is really important to you, you'll need to digitally (horizontally) flip your design before you color copy it.

To make my jar lid design work, I flipped it horizontally before I color copied it.

By the way, if you like any of my designs, you are welcome to use them. I have included a PDF of them for you with this step. You'll find both the original and mirror images, so you can 1) opt to just cut one out and glue it onto your lid as-is, 2) try a packing tape image transfer, or 3) use one of my horizontally flipped versions and make an image transfer decal.

To make an image transfer decal of your jar lid, just follow the steps shown in Step 4: Make an Image Transfer Decal for the Floor. Once its finished, you can glue your decal to the top of your jar lid.

HEATHER THE FEATHER JAR LIDS.pdf
Download

Step 6: Apply Craft Glaze to Transferred Images. (Optional)

My packing tape image transfers turned out pretty well, but I really wanted them to pop. I noticed that the colors on one side of the tape looked a bit more vibrant than the colors on the opposite side. It could be that I just wasn't able to remove all of the paper pulp fibers from that side of the tape. It could because I used cheap-o packing tape. Or maybe that's just how these things go...

But I noticed, too, that when my transfers were wet, both sides looked great. So, I experimented a bit to see how I could achieve this wet look for the duller side of my packing tape transfers. I tried a coat of shellac, but it flaked off. Various other clear coat products degraded the colored image itself. No good.

Anyway, Aleene's Original Craft Glaze did the trick! (And there are probably similar products that you could also use.) I applied craft glaze to Heather's flooring, so that it would look nice and shiny. I also applied it over the top of the decal on my jar lid.

APPLYING CRAFT GLAZE TO TRANSFERRED IMAGES

The bottle of Aleene's Original Craft Glaze had a needle-like tip. I snipped a little off of its end, so that I could dispense more of the glaze more quickly.
Squeeze some large dots of glaze out onto the wrong/dull side of your packing tape transfer.
Use a small paintbrush or sponge on a stick to evenly distribute a thin coat of the clear glaze onto the dull side's surface.
Allow to dry. Reapply additional thin coats as needed.

CRAFT GLAZE CAVEAT!

Here's something interesting about packing tape image transfers that's worth noting. When you get them wet and allow them to dry, this usually revives the tape's stickiness. So, if you don't coat them with craft glaze, they will likely retain this ability to get sticky again.

To my mind, that suggests you could easily apply them to the inside of the jar with their natural stickiness, and, if you are careful, you could later pull them off to be reapplied elsewhere. You could move Heather's furniture around and add/change things pretty easily that way.

But, when you add the glaze, this natural stickiness goes away. I didn't mind that, since I glued everything in place and don't plan to make any changes to this Heather house. Just something to think about...

Step 7: Put It All Together.

Although I think the entire Heather the Feather process is fun, putting everything together is my favorite part. As I mentioned earlier, I chose to permanently glue Heather's furnishings in place. (See "Craft Glaze Caveat" from Step 6 for details about permanent versus temporary furniture placement.)

But before I glued anything, I experimented with where things should go. My glass jar has a couple of seams, so I did my best to work around those. I also tried to space the furniture so that it would look nice. Once I decided what-went-where, I got out the glue.

Most any clear-drying glue will work to permanently affix image transfers to your jar. First, I glued Heather's floor into place. Then, I turned my attention to her lamp, family portrait, fancy chair, and, finally, my coffee table-flower vase combo.

I brushed on just enough glue, so that it would adhere my images to the glass without squirting out from under their edges. (If you do see glue peeking out after you've placed an image transfer, dampen a clean rag to tidy the edges before the glue dries.) I held each piece of furniture in place for a minute or so just to make sure that it made good contact with the wall of the jar. (If you have trouble fitting your fingers or hands inside the jar for this part, try using long tweezers or similar tools to do the job.)

I added one last finishing touch—a little stand for Heather. The nice thing about having a stand? You can either keep your feather upright or, if your feather wishes to lie down once in a while, you can remove it.

MAKING A STAND FOR HEATHER THE FEATHER (Optional)

I had some air-drying clay leftover from a previous Instructable, but you could probably use any kind of modeling clay for this, really. Pinch off a small section and roll it into a ball.
Press the pointy tip of your feather into the clay.
With the feather still in place, use your fingers to shape the ball so that the feather is properly balanced and seated.
Again, with the feather still in place, push the bottom of the clay ball onto a tabletop to flatten it slightly. Allow the ball to dry without the feather in place. After the stand is dry, you should be able to put your feather in it and take it back out again with no trouble.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I would absolutely LOVE to see your feathery friends, so, if you happen to make your own Heather the Feather—or maybe Gregor the Feather?!—I hope you will post photos along with a comment. Thanks for checking out my Instructable!

:-)

Introduction: Heather the Feather—The Best Small Pet Ever