There's no such thing as a fake feather [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5yV1Q9O6r4

by surprisetalk • 7 months ago

75 41 7 months ago

Indeed. Also very nearly always true with "fake" skeleton leaves used for crafting.

A small percentage (usually enlarged designs of particular shapes) are made with sophisticated latex presses, but most are chemically-stripped and treated real leaves (Ficus and suchlike) because it's simply easier to make them in bulk.

I was amazed by this at first — I bought some for a photography project simply assuming that their flexible, slightly springy nature meant they were artifically-made latex. But no: ficus leaves automatically processed in baking soda, essentially. The latex ones aren't even cheaper.

immibis• 7 months ago

That explains why the fake rubber moss I bought has an odd smell and the occasional bit of what seems like a real decayed leaf. Definitely feels like rubber, but if you're saying they took some real moss and chemically converted it to rubber-like material, that makes sense.

exasperaited4• 7 months ago

Seems possible. A bit of a google suggests that the process in that case would involve glycerin to replace the water content. So it could be that.

jaggederest2• 7 months ago

Well, ficus (ficus elastica and others) are natural latex - their sap is one of the forms of latex that occurs naturally and used to be harvested, but these days latex is harvested from a different plant (hevea brasiliensis, the "rubber tree")

So it's not so much as "the latex ones are cheaper" as "the real leaves are already made of latex, so why artificially make one out of latex?"

exasperaited4• 7 months ago

Ficus produces natural latex. The entire plant or leaf isn't latex!

What is left from this process in the fake leaf is a mixture of latex sap and processed lignin, I think. It's certainly not only latex.

hnbad• 7 months ago

Given the incredible number of chickens that are processed every single minute across the world, this shouldn't be surprising but it's easy to see why you might be surprised if you never considered where all the stuff that isn't meat goes.

hennell• 7 months ago

I found it pretty surprising. It would not have surprised me at all if we made fake plastic feathers and burned or buried even more real ones because it works out fractionally 'cheaper' to make new then collect and wash/treat the old.

tobyjsullivan• 7 months ago

Honestly, I’d still be surprised to learn feathers in America are produced from American poultry. Far more likely the local ones get burned and everything for sale is shipped across the ocean because cheaper.

layer82• 7 months ago

It’s also because real feathers are similarly durable as plastic feathers would be. Plants are very cheap to grow as well, but plastic plants are nevertheless a thing.

barrkel• 7 months ago

Plastic plants sell because they are free of maintenance, they don't wither and die, not because they are cheap to produce.

fundad• 7 months ago

Feather meal is used in animal feed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feather_meal

Manure is also fed to cows.

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g2077

"Poultry litter can be used as a feedstuff... There are currently no federal or Missouri regulations governing the use of poultry litter as a feedstuff"

kpil• 7 months ago

Sometimes EU regulations isn't that bad.

Poultry litter has been banned as cattle feed since 2001, partially due to mouth and foot disease and BSE and to some extent animal welfare.

zkmon• 7 months ago

Things that can't be faked are going to be a mystery, reversing a phenomenon of just a few decades ago, when faking a thing perfectly was a miracle.

jolt42• 7 months ago

I think it's a shame more real leather isn't used. It just goes to waste, but fake leather is cheaper.

com2kid2• 7 months ago

Fake leather is such an annoying scam. Real leather can last for a century if taken care of, fake leather lasts a handful of years before it literally flakes away into nothing.

Though that reminds me of the time I bought a real leather couch set that had absolute garbage everything else, the legs broke after a couple of years. Really not the part I was expecting the manufacturer to have cheaper out on...

14• 7 months ago

I too am annoyed by “faux leather” as it is so stupid to see some ad saying leather jacket and when you look at the details see faux leather. That is not a leather jacket it is a plastic jacket so cut the shit. Same level of ragebait as things like vegetarian “meat”balls.

Kirby642• 7 months ago

Fake leather has a wide, wide range of quality. Polyurethane faux-leather used in many automobiles these days is considered to be superior to leather in terms of durability and longevity. Take a look at old examples of MB-Tex, which Mercedes has been making for ... 60-70 years by now.

Similarly, plenty of leather that will disintegrate and flake into trash or crack and peel, especially if not taken care of well.

Sharlin• 7 months ago

There are also many grades or "real" leather. In particular, the label "Genuine Leather" means little more than "bits of leather included" [1].

[1] https://mahileather.com/blogs/news/what-is-genuine-leather

skrebbel• 7 months ago

This seems like a good time to share the obligatory Fortnine leather vs fake leather video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwuRUcAGIEU

jinushaun• 7 months ago

There’s also the fact that leather is the waste by product of harvesting meat. People aren’t going to stop eating meat any time soon.

0898• 7 months ago

I think you misread the word feather.

MarkusQ• 7 months ago

I have, in fact, personally made fake feathers for a friend's Halloween costume (respecting their preference to not wear or consume any animal product). It made it much more expensive and labor intensive, but since a costume is essentially a bit of fakery to begin with, it was at least consistent.

There's no such thing as a fake feather [video]

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