Burlap and paint a Herter's Mallard Decoy

Boyd~

Very nice job. I bought a dozen Herters Model 72 Mallards when I was 14. They cost $28 for the dozen - which was exactly my weekly takehome pay working as a stock boy after school and Saturdays. I still shoot over them.

Your paint looks great, but I do have a couple of suggestions. Here's a pic of one of my wooden gunners. I think the important thing in painting gunners is to give the birds the visual cues they look for.

View attachment Mallard Gunner - vs.jpg

1) The same light grey you use on the sides also goes on the "back", left and right, with dark down the center. The back is really the feather groups that hang off a bird's "shoulder" - the scapulars and tertials and their coverts. Around the edges, use a dry brush to soften the transition to the dark color. These grey patches give a mallard their characteristic look from above - something I never appreciated until counting birds from an airplane.

2) Note the white between the grey side feathers and the black rump feathers. It is an important field mark, too. Again, best if softened between the grey and the white.

3) Head seems to shine a lot. Not a big problem but better to dull it down. Are you painting with latex house paint? That's what I use for gunners. I get Home Depot to mix up an 8 oz sample - about $4. Some places, like local hardware stores, might even have smaller samples - useful for things like head and bill colors. Either way, get it in dead flat.

4) Not important, but, drake Mallards rarely show the blue speculum when at rest, the hens show it more frequently.

I hope this is helpful. If I have time later today, I'll snap some pics of my Herters Mallards, drake and hen, in their gunning paint.

Keep up the good work - I look forward to seeing the "after" pics of the whole flock.ll the best,

SJS
 
Thanks Steve!
I was hoping that someone would critique my decoy for me. That is what makes this such a great site! I looked at several pictures online, but wasn't sure just how to go about painting them? I just did a couple as a test run. I really like the way yours look. I knew mine weren't quite the way that I wanted them, but it was a first attempt.
Please post the Hen as well. I put the blue speculum on the wing, because the Herter's originally had that on the drake.
Mine are the smaller decoys. I want to say that they are the model 63? I bought two dozen in 1994 and have lost four over the years.
The head is shiny, but it looks really good for color. I am just using acrylic paint from Wal-Mart. I plan on over spraying them with a clear satin polyurethane. That should dull them down a bit. This is going to be a lengthy process and I will do it as I have the time. I have a lot to do before next fall, including a total revamp of my duck boat.
 
Boyd~

Correct - the smaller foam (Herters called it Durlon) bird was the Model 63.

Glad you welcomed my thoughts,

SJS
 
Thanks Steve! That hen looks awesome! If you don't mind, I think I will copy that exactly. I will see how Iowa ducks like that pattern. I appreciate any kind of constructive criticism. Besides, I have a pretty good filter and just ignore anything that I don't like to hear. LOL
I appreciate you taking the time to post those pictures.
 
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 not experiment with Steve's suggestion for getting sample paints mixed, then priming and overpainting the head only? You are going to have to get some flat green for the other heads you'll paint in the future anyway, so why not make the jump now?

I like the way you used the texture of the burlap to suggest some vermiculations/tonal changes.

Mike
 
I am experimenting with what I have on hand, but will probably go with Steve's suggestion for the long run. I had never painted a decoy before and just wanted to try it out and see what happens.
 
Nice repaint.

Might want to try Testor's Dullcote, WalMart has it. Its extremely flat.
 
Boyd,
Keep working on it. I typically make the side pockets a little lighter than the back but that's personal preference and you typically see that in the hens.
The Drake has 3 distinct white areas: necklace, rump and tail. I almost never show a speculum on gunning birds since IMHO it's a warning signal that "all may not be right here" as the birds lift their wings a bit and expose the speculum. I believe there is a high contrast to make if highly visible as a signal...again....MHO. ;)
Here's a couple I did for a customer, just simple gunners and painted eyes.
Lou

View attachment AA-CBR-075 110.jpg
View attachment AA-CBR-075 114.jpg
 
Lou & Boyd~

Here are Lou's (E Allen, Keith Mueller) Mallards as I use them for my calm water hunts (note 1 oz sinkers). I painted these in '96, I think - with just a little touch up.

View attachment E Allen Mallard Drake vs.jpg View attachment EAllen Mallard Hen vs.jpg

Boyd~

Lou's painting and mine provide a good comparison on different ways to suggest the silver/pearly look of a Drake's grey body feathers. Lou used a graining comb, I used stippling - basically using the end of a brush's bristles, with very little paint, to suggest the look of fine vermiculation. This is certainly not necessary - esp. not with the burlap which adds a lot of depth - but I predict you'll be using some of these methods as your carving/painting career grows.

Also, if you use flat latex, you might try Home Depot's Behr Ultra, flat, Butternut Wood (710D-6) as a base color for the Hen. Obviously, you'll also need a dark brown. But, with the base color, you can blend into White toward the tail, blend with Drake Mallard breast color for the hen's breast, and blend with the Hen bill color for the wash on the Hen's face and chin. My point is that you do not need to buy lots of different colors, you can just mix with the few you really need.

Also, you should recognize that Mallards are probably the single toughest species to paint well. So, once you get these done, other species will be a piece of cake.

All the best,

SJS
 
Thanks guys. I got some flat exterior latex house paint mixed up today and will give it another try. I will post some pictures of my next attempt, as soon as I get done.
 
I took this picture outside to give it a better representation. I dulled the head down with a matte spray finish. I am not completely satisfied with the colors on the body yet. I will experiment a little more. I want to blend or feather a little more in the transition areas. I have another drake I will do a little differently, then I will start on the hen and post those for you to give me your opinions on. Thanks!
 
Boyd~

Great work!

Two ideas:

1) Not important but just to help you understand the feather tracts on a bird. The white you added to the rump just needs to angle back. Look at Lou's or my stool: If you flip the bird over (and you can see this the next time you have a real Mallard in the hand), the black-white line rounds across the bottom of the rump in a radius.

2) On the back, just take a dry fairly brush (just a little paint in her) with your brown and drag it from the centerline out and back for an inch or so. (The back of a Mallard is what I was referring to when I said it was the toughest species to paint.)

You're a diligent student!

All the best,

SJS
 
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