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Welcome Erik! I am happy and sad for you, in that by choosing to make your own decoys and get deepky into waterfowling traditions, you are jumping into the deep end of the pool. Lots of fun and opportunity, but a few frustrations too! Those of us who make our own decoys, build or refurbish...

welcome. hope you enjoy it as much as I have Mike

Just a very selfish note: I knew Danny Sprague personally, and I have several calls made by him. The call I blew in 1980 around Joe and still blow today is a call Danny made specially for me and my blowing style. It has gotten me jobs working at duck clubs as a caller, and it has lured...

Stef, are you using acrylics or oils? I switched to oils about two years ago, and the mixes I offered are for oils and wet-in-wet blending techniques. I would have done it a little differently with acrylics, including using washes with some orange on lighter feather edges to get the tones I...

Are these the flat glass eyes, or do they ahve the concave indentation in the back? I could not tell from the pictures on the webiste for the supplier. Some of the pics made it look like they had an indentation, others made it look like they were flat. Don't need to send me any, as I know...

forgot to mention that when I add a color like orange to a hen mallard feather edging, I prefer to add the white to the other colors in the base to get the shade I want before I add any orange, then add the orange last, a very little at a time. My color sense/vision is not good enough to see...

I think in discussing the info you have to date on these decoys, you may have answered your own question. The heads, without a view of the bodies, really looked like East Coast heads to me. When you showed the bodies, then I got a bit confused, as some had east coast lines, others do not...

Good luck on dulling the paint down with a satin poly. I have had poor luck with that. A lot of the "satin" poly dries pretty glossy, although it does age to a flatter appearance over weeks or months. But I have not produced a truly flat surface by putting satin over a glossy paint. Why...

Ben: thanks for the suggestion. That is the method I now use (clay to mount the eye, then filler around it), but I am also looking for recommendations on what type of paint to use on the clear eyes..... Lee L. uses enamels, any other suggestions??? Lee, are you using model type...

I am designing a rig of blacks based on classic St. Clair flats style blacks duck decoys to carve this spring and summer. I am looking for top and side view pictures of tom chambers, JR Wells, Warin, and or other classic St Clair black decoys to help me finish the designs. While I have a...

What/how are you painting the clear glass eyes? I have had bad results with my home painted eyes when the paint separated from the back of the eye, after the eye was mounted in the head. The filler in which I mounted the eye "grabbed" the paint and as the filler dried, the paint stayed...

I wish I had your problem/dilemma. I haven't seen a ruddy in years. The few I saw were migrators/moving through the area/new to that piece of the river, and they pitched in to the diver decoys like bluebills. Never tried to eat one, as the few I shot got frozen, then later skinned and dead...

for the lighter feather edgings (to start): mix of raw sienna, with a touch of burnt umber, a touch of raw umber, and a touch (careful!) of orange. Add a touch of white as needed to get correct shade............ this was passed to me by another carver/painter, I certainly didn't come up...

I don't necessarily agree they were made by the same carver, but east coast guys and knowledgeable collectors (I love old decoys and have been lucky enough to handle a bunch of good ones, but I do not consider myself knowledgeable enough to have more than a personal opinion) would be able to...

Steve, when I made a dozen pintails for Christmas presents a few years back, I made a crude curved form from scrap cherry wood, lightly heated the PVC and then clamped it in the form to set an upward curve. BUT, I found that PVC is weird stuff. Not enough heat, the bend does not set or...

I am working on getting some very large diameter PVC pipe, I'm thinking that after my experience using it for the long sprig on pintails, PVC might make a great tail insert period, even on cedar decoys. Biggest problem I am having is getting big enough diameter PVC (by scrounging) to keep...

Don't you wish you could pick a few from the rig in the picture? One of the best of the Illinois River carvers........... Mike

Mike, you have a good point, voids are a great character thing, and they do break up the surface. My biggest problem with them is that they can make sealing and painting more difficult, in some ways. If you are spraying/air brushing, voids might not be a big deal, but sometimes with...

looks nice. Like I said to another carver, "I sure wish my first decoy had looked as nicely as yours......." Keep going......... Not sure what you plan on using to fill the holes in the black/brown cork. To me that is the worst part about making brown cork decoys. It takes a lot of...

I really like the lines and measurements of this boat. I can totally see where putting more slope on the deck is a great idea. If you could somehow take pics and measurements, then get a boatbuilder to make plans, I'm feel that it would be a very popular plan package. It would be wonderful...