I Hand cut a lot of my feathers, and a paper pattern works great. Heres a tip I ran across somers, ( not my idea) and it works fantastically. Cut your pattern from heavy weight papper. , Get yourself some a that Blue painter's tape. The kind ya tape around winders and such so ya can paint and peel off leavin no paint on the winder. Cut yourself a piece and tape it onto the feather with the leading edge of the tape runnin along the quill of the feather. Make the tape longer on both ends so you can tape the feather down to a flat surface. This will keep the feather straight while you work. Now ya lay your pattern against the quill on the tape and trace it to the tape. Take your sissors and cut along the line. Carefully, peel off the tape and ya have a perfect cut feather. Ifin ya can follow the line? Its the best way I know to cut a matched set of Custom Feathers of your own design.