February workbench

D

Don Mintz

Active member
This is a decoy we produced in 2011. We molded, flocked and painted several hundred. I am really impressed with the flocking and how well it held up, at least until it was shot. I repaired 25 shot holes on this one decoy, re flocked it and repainted it. We know a lot more about airbrushing than we did back when we made these and light years more about flocking than we did then. I guess I'd call this an upgrade. The originals didn't have glass eyes, but since I was filling holes I figured I might as well upgrade this one.

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It's always amazing to get hold of one of a decoy you did years ago. It is a reminder of how far we've come and what we've learned.
I cringe when I see some of my early efforts I called "decoys". We live and learn and evolve our craft and our lives.
Still a darned nice looking bird Don.
 
I've got six out of this batch of working harlequins all rounded out. I also hollowed, glued, cut out a GoldenEye for another client. This is my February starting point.
 

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The paint is flowing good today. For any of you who use an airbrush you will know what I'm talking about. Yesterday was an hour cleaning my airbrush before I got it running good again, William knows how bad I am at keeping my airbrush clean, I paint several days a week and usually things go smoothly from day to day other than clearing the tops of the paint bottles which is nearly daily. I've been working on colors of flocking and paint under it to get some more of that carmel flavor I'm wanting on the redhead hens, I feel like I'm getting close.

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I dont see any airbrushing on those goldenye drakes.... Looks good Don! Someday we all hope to be as good as you are with an airbrush. Exceptional work sir.
 
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Don Mintz said:
The paint is flowing good today. For any of you who use an airbrush you will know what I'm talking about. Yesterday was an hour cleaning my airbrush before I got it running good again, William knows how bad I am at keeping my airbrush clean, I paint several days a week and usually things go smoothly from day to day other than clearing the tops of the paint bottles which is nearly daily. I've been working on colors of flocking and paint under it to get some more of that carmel flavor I'm wanting on the redhead hens, I feel like I'm getting close.

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The drakes are great, the hens are awesome. Wish I tried flocking and airbrushing 50 years ago. (y)
 
SJ, that's what I keep telling William, he's still young. I started airbrushing at 22 years old with a single action Badger, I switched to a double action at 33 and painted full time for the next 14 years wholesaling fish head and tail salt and pepper shakers. That was over 20,000 hours by the time I was 47. It's been 21 years since I started painting decoys, production painting, thousands of decoys. When William has 20,000 hours under his belt with an airbrush I bet he will be better than me. He is better than I was at this stage where he is now, but of course I had no one to ask. I've never had a real job though, so my time has been pretty unlimited to play in my shop.
 
I've been pretty fortunate to be able to make a living doing something I enjoy for nearly my entire adult life. I am slowing down, or at least thinking about slowing down. Thanks to the encouragement from William over the past year, he's kind of lit the fire again and we are doing all kinds of crazy stuff these days.
 
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