Help needed texturing a decoy

S

sean kane

Active member
Does anyone know of a tutorial on using gesso or just combing a decoy in general? can you tint the gesso? i dont want to screw it up and have to sand it all again! i would like to try it on some pintails i will be working on. Steve i really like the look of your pintails with the painted on vermiculation as well.
Thank you for the help!
Best,
Sean
 
You can use straight gesso, or mix it with quality artist modeling paste. Tint if you want, but most likely it's not necessary. Try your mix on a test board first, with the comb you want to use. The tighter the teeth of the comb the faster the buildup. It's fun to work with, once you get the hang of it, and the looser the better. I have done it for years on many of my gunners, and it does hold up surprisingly well. So far not one crack.
 
Sean,
Texturing isn't all that difficult. Just mix yourself equal parts of acrylic gesso & modeling paste. Willy can sell you a set of decent combs (preferred)or you can cut up some old plastic combs that may suffice. Find yourself some good open-cell sponges (check out auto parts stores) to do sponge or orange peel texture. The mix can be tinted with any base color you'd like to use.
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Once you have a pattern worked out in your head, you just paint on some of your mix and then go back & comb through it. Biggest things to think about with combing is how what you will comb next will affect what you've already laid down (ie: how the 'feathering" formed by the combing will layer).
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When sponging, I slap down a thin base of the mix, then pop over it with a sponge dipped in more of the same mix until the pattern I want starts to appear. Best to let texture air dry as opposed to speeding it up with a hair dryer, etc.
View attachment euro 011.jpg
View attachment mergtextured 003.jpg
View attachment Pinpaint5.jpg
Don't really have any pictures that would qualify as a "tutorial," but like with most things involved with decoy making, nothing is as effective as boneheaded repetition ;-). You just need to jump in and keep repeating the process for a while. Hope this helps get you started.
 
I've had great success using straight Liquitex Basics for combing, can find it at most local hobby stores. It's just the perfect consistency out of the tube and has a much longer working time than other methods I have tried. I let it air dry for a couple days before I put any paint on top of it.
 
Does anyone know of a tutorial on using gesso or just combing a decoy in general? can you tint the gesso? i dont want to screw it up and have to sand it all again! i would like to try it on some pintails i will be working on. Steve i really like the look of your pintails with the painted on vermiculation as well.
Thank you for the help!
Best,
Sean
Click to expand...

Sean,
I'm not a fan of gesso because it's not waterproof and you can't force dry it without producing a bunch of pin holes. If you want to use gesso, mixing gesso with liquitex works well for texture and combing.
My preference is Goldens Regular Gel Matte for all texturing. You can force dry it and continue painting and finish a decoy in a day........force dry the Goldens as you progress and it's waterproof as soon as it's dry.
If you go to my website: www.lockstockbarrell.com there are 3 tutorials there (pdf files) that will help you out with combing and whole body texturing.
Lou
 
Sean, give me a holler-270-8706-i live in dover. I paint with Golden Matte Acrylics-stuff comes in jars and larger-When i am vermiculating, i just use a piece from an old plastic comb and scratch into the paint when it is about half dry-When the paint dries with the combing, then it is a simple matter of dry brushing the dark onto the light- The top of the marks will pick up the dry brushing and the valleys will remain the greyish color--This can also be done on any species that seems to require vermiculating, like teal, widgeon, gadwall, and most male divers.
Since we are within driving distance, feel free to drop in and perhaps i can do a demo for you,
G
 
guys thanks so much! im definetly in agreement with Bobs Boneheaded repitition! The pics were great, and george im going to take you up on that... much appreciated
 
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