April 2014 - What is on your workbench ?

Getting there with the Gull.

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Also working on a 2 sided red drum....Inserted the fins.

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4 stripers, 2 drum and a trout roughed out. I think I'm liking this fish carving stuff.

-D
 
These Green Wings have been taking up a bit of my time over the last few weeks. It's been fun. One more drake to go, perhaps some tinkering with the hens I carved the first part of last month and I'll be done with the carving part of this little rig. Can't wait to see them floating in some northern waters come september.

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Andrew~

Lots of character in those birds. Especially cool because I've been seeing a few Greenwings - and Ringbills - and TONS of Canadas of late.

I am about to put my burlap and mastic aside until later in the summer. I'll be bringing a couple dozen Hen Broadie-beaks down to my Long Island crew tomorrow. To keep things interesting - and because I always require complete artistic controls over all of my charitable efforts - I decided to paint 4 of these Herters 72s as Redheads. We see very few Redheads on LI - but these little splashes of red in the rig certainly won't scare any Broadbill away....AND the remaining 55 stool will all be Drake Broadbill....

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Here is a hollow (Basswood and White Pine) Broadbill primed and ready for oils; postal scale reads 1 lb, 3 oz.

First coat is a Grey Primer.

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The second coat is all Gesso- Black and White - to serve as a base for the oils. This will get a fancy paint job as a mantelpiece bird. Kind of a skinny neck for this species - but I wanted to exaggerate the alert look.


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Every Sanford bird, though, must have big fat cheeks....

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All the best,

SJS
 
Steve,

Scaup looks great, love the attitude. Haven't been doing much carving lately but have been taking an acrylic painting class at the local art studio. Did a few larger paintings but found I like doing these small ones better. Starting to get the hang of acrylic washes and blending. Acrylic on canvas covered board.


 
Steve, one of this summer's projects is to work on some old Herter's model 72 redheads, along with updating some of the divers from Mark Rongers' old rig that I purchased several years ago when he was upgrading and that have been in storage since. Now that I have discovered the joys of the "sample can" of Sanford-specified paint from your other diver projects, have you done the "rehabbing redheads for dummies" thread, complete with paint specs and brush techniques? Did not see it in the divers page on your website a minute ago. Best, Rufus
 
Rufus~

You have not missed any Redhead tutorials from me. But, when you get ready to paint them, just send me a note - be happy to help (I now keep the Behr color chips in my paint drawer....)

All the best,

SJS
 
Done with banding scaup so, got back in the shop. Finished my latest bluebills. These birds have white pine heads, balsa bodies and are feather stamped Michigan Style. This is yet another pair of decoys that I did not undercut the tail. I am really enjoying that technique, and, appreciate both it's looks and durability. I also completed a 1/2 sized bluegoose made entirely from solid white pine and got a call for an oversized greater scaup drake...

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Pat,
Beautiful blocks. I really like the look of the feather stamping. Being a Michigan guy, maybe I'm partial. I have been trying to fabricate a set of feather stamps but am not quite happy with the results. Sure wish I knew where a guy could get some of those made.
 
Pat, I like the looks of those new bills a bit better with the paint on them. They have a very proud posture, nice work!
 
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