if youve been getting macaw feathers, i would suggest you sell them and use them to buy some nice tying stuff. go to www.feathersmc.com to figure out how much you might be able to sell them for. ebay would be a good place to sell some.

to give you an idea, a single pair of macaw center tails sells for $100 dollars. with the money you get, seeing as youre just starting out tying, you could get yourself a really nice vice, for starters, and all the things you might need to get going.