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There's no such thing as a fake feather [video]
- exasperaited 11mo agoIndeed. Also very nearly always true with "fake" skeleton leaves used for crafting. A small percentage (usually enlarged designs of particular shapes) are made with sophisticated latex presses, but most are chemically-stripped and treated real leaves (Ficus and suchlike) because it's simply easier to make them in bulk. I was amazed by this at first — I bought some for a photography project simply assuming that their flexible, slightly springy nature meant they were artifically-made latex. But no: ficus leaves automatically processed in baking soda, essentially. The latex ones aren't even cheaper.
- immibis 11mo agoThat explains why the fake rubber moss I bought has an odd smell and the occasional bit of what seems like a real decayed leaf. Definitely feels like rubber, but if you're saying they took some real moss and chemically converted it to rubber-like material, that makes sense.
- exasperaited 11mo agoSeems possible. A bit of a google suggests that the process in that case would involve glycerin to replace the water content. So it could be that.
- jaggederest 11mo agoWell, ficus (ficus elastica and others) are natural latex - their sap is one of the forms of latex that occurs naturally and used to be harvested, but these days latex is harvested from a different plant (hevea brasiliensis, the "rubber tree") So it's not so much as "the latex ones are cheaper" as "the real leaves are already made of latex, so why artificially make one out of latex?"
- exasperaited 11mo agoFicus produces natural latex. The entire plant or leaf isn't latex! What is left from this process in the fake leaf is a mixture of latex sap and processed lignin, I think. It's certainly not only latex.
- jaggederest 11mo agoRight, but if you process it with baking soda it coagulates the latex into the shape of a leaf with some strengthening fiber in it, which is approximately the exact thing you'd do with molded fiber-reinforced latex
- hnbad 11mo agoGiven the incredible number of chickens that are processed every single minute across the world, this shouldn't be surprising but it's easy to see why you might be surprised if you never considered where all the stuff that isn't meat goes.
- hennell 11mo agoI found it pretty surprising. It would not have surprised me at all if we made fake plastic feathers and burned or buried even more real ones because it works out fractionally 'cheaper' to make new then collect and wash/treat the old.
- tobyjsullivan 11mo agoHonestly, I’d still be surprised to learn feathers in America are produced from American poultry. Far more likely the local ones get burned and everything for sale is shipped across the ocean because cheaper.
- butvacuum 11mo agoFeathers? Not a chance. Far too much volume per unit weight. And if they're compressed, you end up with only broken feathers.
- userbinator 11mo ago"What costs more to ship, a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?"
- butvacuum 11mo agoAhhh, Limmy. Just don't ask about purple burglar alarms.
- exasperaited 11mo agoOr they don't get burned but they do get shipped across the ocean to be processed, and then shipped back… that's the commercial way
- asdfsadffdasd 11mo ago[flagged]
- retired_account 11mo agoI’d suggest against being anywhere near a mcnuggets happy meal, then.
- asdfsafdsdf 11mo ago[flagged]
- zkmon 11mo agoThings that can't be faked are going to be a mystery, reversing a phenomenon of just a few decades ago, when faking a thing perfectly was a miracle.
- jolt42 11mo agoI think it's a shame more real leather isn't used. It just goes to waste, but fake leather is cheaper.
- com2kid 11mo agoFake leather is such an annoying scam. Real leather can last for a century if taken care of, fake leather lasts a handful of years before it literally flakes away into nothing. Though that reminds me of the time I bought a real leather couch set that had absolute garbage everything else, the legs broke after a couple of years. Really not the part I was expecting the manufacturer to have cheaper out on...
- 14 11mo agoI too am annoyed by “faux leather” as it is so stupid to see some ad saying leather jacket and when you look at the details see faux leather. That is not a leather jacket it is a plastic jacket so cut the shit. Same level of ragebait as things like vegetarian “meat”balls.
- com2kid 11mo ago> Same level of ragebait as things like vegetarian “meat”balls. There is some amazing vegetarian food out there. Both Buddhist and Hindu cultures have been making amazing vegetarian food for literally thousands of years and they are really good at it. Also, vegetables are just yummy! Fake meat, no thanks. Incredible vegetarian and vegan food exists, stop trying to fake it. Same with gluten free foods, almond flour is an amazing ingredient but it is different than flour. It is funny that the keto community had amazing gluten free recipes years before the gluten free communities figured it out.
- satvikpendem 11mo agoExactly. I find myself incidentally eating vegetarian most of the week, being Indian, just because it tastes good (and because it's cheaper, but that's another matter). My parents only eat meat on the weekends due to such cost so it's interesting to see people in the West eat meat for every meal such that its lack is noted.
- MarkusQ 11mo agoI have, in fact, personally made fake feathers for a friend's Halloween costume (respecting their preference to not wear or consume any animal product). It made it much more expensive and labor intensive, but since a costume is essentially a bit of fakery to begin with, it was at least consistent.