Colorful quill pens

"To color quills and parchment of divers colors. Take the quills and cut away the feathers, and rub them well with a woolen cloth that the skin go clean off, that the quill may be smooth, which must always be done before you die them. Cut off a little of the end of the quill that the color may enter into them. Lay them in alum water, for half a day. Take them out and dry them, then dye them, when they are dried, as I will teach you, let them be well dried., and strike them over with a cloth between two fingers, then stick them in a board that is full of holes, and let every one have a space between it, that they touch not together, and dry them in the air. " --William Philip (1596). A Booke of Secrets shewing divers waies to make and prepare all sorts of Inke, and Colours… . London : Adam Islip for Edward White.

Quills drying: (L to R) copper and indigo; 2 brazilwood; 2 fustic; 2 copper and indigo.	Quill barrels: (T to B): 3 copper; 2 brazilwood; 2 fustic	Only the feather tip was dyed in indigo; the barrel was dyed a light blue green using copper sulfate (blue vitriol).