In honour of the new Harry Potter book coming out, I did these quills in the Gryffindor and Slytherin colours.

Step 1: Check List

You will need:

White feathers
Paints
Paint brushes
Scissors
Strong glue
Your choice of pen/ nib/ or to cut it

Optional:

Coloured wire
Rubber gloves

Step 2: Painting the Feather

First, you will need to trim down any "fluffy" parts of the feather. Next, you can start painting! The front of the feather will take more than one coat of paint. Allow it to dry fully between each coat. I also recommend doing one or two coats of paint on the back of the feather.

Tip: Make sure that you check each side of the feather as you are painting it to make sure that you don't get any paint bubbles if this occurs just paint them away.

Step 3: Detaling

Once the feather is dry you can start putting on your desired design. I find it easiest to draw the design on the feather lightly with pencil. Once you have the design you want on there all you have to do is paint over it. I also find that it looks nicer if you outline the design with a different colour, in this case I used a black paint marker.

Step 4: Pen Tip

This is by far the easiest of the tree ways.

First you need to cut the tip of the feather off then I just took the tube out of a regular pen and pushed it inside the feather.

Step 5: Cutting the Tip

For this method I found this video most helpful.

Step 6: Metal Nib

This is my favourit method.

You will need super glue and a metal nib. First cut off the tip of the feather then glue the nib down. I recomend using rubber gloves for the glueing.

Step 7: Adding the Coloured Wire

I find it easiest to glue the end of the wire into the center of the feather. Next, wrap the wire around the feather a couple of times. Once you have it wrapped around a few times add a line of glue to the back of the feather and keep wrapping it around to your desired length. Once you have the desired length simply cut the wire and glue the end down.