Every source I've read or tried said to use color preserver to do a feather inlay.

My experience has been when the color preserver dries the feathers dont stay put.

So I experimented. This time I sprayed a light coat of artist fixative down and placed my feather where I wanted it. It stayed put! I then followed this proceedure for each additional feather I wanted to add.

All stayed in place and was ready for final finish with epoxy. After this , it was noted that all feathers had retained their natural colors and the inlay took little time to complete(less the drying of the final epoxy of course).......Works for me!