WILLISTON, N.D. -- John Herr can see the artistry in nature. He knows a pheasant is covered in feathers of a variety of shapes, colors and textures, which form a mosaic of hues serving as the palette for his work.
His art form is hat bands, strips of feather-covered pelts that help a hat wearer to stand out among a sea of muted browns, blacks and grays.
To most, a pheasant is just a bird, not worth a second glance unless it is hunting season.
Herr sees more. "There's just so much variety," he said of the bird's plumage. "It's very pretty."
Herr has been creating the bands for two and a half years. He said he read a book on the subject after learning about the technique while traveling on the Hawaiian island of Kauai on vacation.
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"They call them contemporary leis," he said. "You can use more than just pheasant feathers, peacock feathers is a common one they use."
Herr obtains the feathers from the pheasants he raises on his property or from pheasant hunting, though he said he has not been hunting much this season.
After removing the feathers from a pheasant he will then clean them with a drying soap. He then places the feathers in a clothes dryer.
His wife, Roberta Herr, said the feathers can create quite a mess when the bag used to hold them opens inside the dryer.
"He has his own dryer now," she said.
Herr then removes the down portion of the feathers, which he then sorts by color.
He then begins to create the hat bands, using a device constructed by his wife to hold the band as he sews the feather onto the band.
Another item that helps him with designing the hat bands are Loupes glasses, which magnify what he sees. Herr, a former ophthalmologist, said he kept the surgical glasses after selling his clinic to Trinity Regional Eye Care. He retired in 2006.
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"They're prescription," he said. "So, they didn't really have any use for them."
Herr said he selects the feathers based on a specific color scheme or pattern.
In one hat band, he used the black portions of the feathers to form a ring, a design which was repeated several times across the hat band.
He also overlaps the feathers to mimic the way they appear on the pheasant.
Herr said it takes about 75 to 80 hours on average to create a hat band.
He also said it took about 25 to 26 pheasants to create the seven hat bands has.
