Redhead Sleeper

T

Tom Rowe

Active member
Getting ready to build the mold for this guy. It's still in rough shape and needs to be cleaned up alot but I like the shape. I'm struggling with a few things that I have to decide before I build the mold.

1. Do I texture or leave it smooth.
2. Do I mold it with the eyes in or leave sockets for glass eyes
3. The secondaries and scapulars suck. I'm changing them before I do anything else.

Let me know what you think.






 
Nice bird Tom! I'd recommend texture, paint sticks better and less glare. Molded eyes are fine. By the time the ducks figured out they are molded, you should be shooting anyway... :) Pat
 
Tom~

Like all of your birds, I think the Sleeper looks fine. On your Question 3 - do you mean tertials and primaries - instead of secondaries and scapulars? I see no big problem but I would:

Primaries: You have them stacked correctly (too many guys nest them concentrically) but I might broaden the tips a bit so the inner web comes off the main rib (rachis) at a larger angle. The key thing is that the inner edges align and the outer edges show separately, usually about 1/8" parallel to each other. And, because the outermost primary is shorter than the next, it is the second primary that you see on top. (Technically, primaries are numbered from the inner wing out - so I am referring to Primaries 10 and 9 respectively.) On this Wigeon, notice how the tip of Primary 10 disappears beneath Primary 9.


WoodsWigeon-primarydetail_zpse6d3df36.jpg


Tertials: Again, they look fine. They do not really droop in divers like they do in many drake puddlers (Pintail, Wigeon, Teals) so I would leave them as they are.

BlackDuckFoamer107_zps63847f06.jpg


Regarding texturing. Lots of ducks have been shot over smooth-finished decoys. But, I really like the epoxy+sawdust method I started using last year - I just cannot be sure of its long-term durability. I did these Herters Model 72 Cans last winter and did my 40 Broadbill this year. The paint is dead flat because of the rough surface. I will probably do this to my E. Allen birds (Mallards and Blacks), too, when they need new paint.

Model72Cans-SJS3-13small_zpsf8448b42.jpg


Finally, like Pat, I would paint the eyes. Glass eyes are lots of work and give water an opportunity to get under the skin.

I hope this is helpful - and I look forward to seeing your finished birds.

All the best,

SJS
 
Pat and Steve make very good points on the rationale of molding with eyes in place. If someone gives you pushback on the eye quality, you can just tell them that the nictitating membrane is "up", since it is a sleeper with a partially closed eye. Apoxie Sculpt is very nice and yields a good moisture barrier for eye placement, but it is time consuming, particularly for you, given the number of birds you make a year

I would guess that mold release and degree of detail transfer would become more difficult as you add texture and feather group layout detail. Also, if you are flocking the molded birds produced, most of the feather group detail beyond the primaries will likely be "lost" during this process. So, it falls to the you, the carver, to determine how much you want to impart to the master.

Here is another option on texture:



This is a foam body decoy with a carved wood head. I textured it with 3M Rocker Panel Spray. I have used this method on both foam birds I made for walk-in hunts and on tan cork decoys. It is easy to control the degree of texture during application, dries quickly, and is configured to take paint. It takes paint "easier" than any other texture surface I have used;Restle coats,cork particles, sawdust, etc. This technique has yielded roughly ten years of very good longevity as well, in routine use on hunting decoys.

Given its intended use, longevity is assurred, as well as some degree of abrasion and abuse resistance afforded to the overlying finish.
 
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Whoops sorry about the empty response. No idea what happened.

Steve and RL thanks for taking the time to help me out.

To be clear as mud on my primary secondary tertial scapular issue...I saw a picture (that I can't find anymore) that depicted a sleeping bird. In the pic the birds wings were lying flat with the primaries extended parallel to the centerline of the bird. They were flat on the body and not crossed. That's the look I am trying to get but I can't seem to get all the feather groups to look like they are laying correctly.

I'm going to make the changes to the primaries that you suggested. That could be the root of my problem. That or my inexperienced eye.

Thanks again for the help!
 
I have seen a number of sleeper redheads with their primaries arrayed roughly parallel and not crossed at the tips. The dark feathers that they overlay extend in a rough elongated "diamond" that extends well into the mid-back area toward the cape feathers. Visualize it this way: The bird relaxes its wing muscles, allowing them to drop deeper under the side pocket feather groups and closer to the waterline. This opens up a broader "gap" between the tertials
 
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Tom & RL~

Certainly birds hold their wing feathers in many different ways - and the sectional shape of the body changes dramatically. For reasons of pertsonal style, I always (since the early '80s) carve my primaries so the tips overlap - with one side slightly (1/16") higher than the other - a design element that has triggered numerous DQs (disqualifications) from gunning bird competitions....

One suggestion - that originated with USFWS artist Bob Hines (one of my heroes) - is to lay out the entire folded wing and then draw the side pocket feathers and the scapular + tertial feathers over the wing. You decide at that point whether and how much to reveal the secondaries, coverts, etc. I always do this and it has helped immensely.

(But note - as with the lapped primary tips - I almost always override the biology with some artistic license.)

All the best,

SJS
 
I've been holding out on you Tom as I'll be carving this bird sometime this year...but I think this can probably help you. The dude was doing a leisure thing in amongst a gang of canvasback...luckily he was doing the one-legged kick circling around so I was able to nail a hundred shots or so of him from all angles.


 
Keith, awesome pic!!! Thanks. I'll throw up a pic after I make the changes on my decoy.

I did go with a light texture. I think I'm going to mold it with the eyes in and drill them so a can add glass eyes. I'm planning on casting 20 or so for my rig for this year. It seems that I'm always making decoys during the season when I should be hunting. If I get jammed up for time I'll just paint the eyes.


Just want to say thanks again to everyone for the input and help.
 
Thanks Keith, much closer to Tom's protoype!!

I am in the process of trying to layout a body pattern for the same body style, but with the head raised and rotated back as a preener. I have the first head carved now. Would you be willing to post some additional photos of this bird from several other angles?

Steve, I am currently carving what will likely be my last personal rig of cork divers. To date, all of them have crossed primaries, so I wanted some variety via some lowhead redheads and greater scaup with this wing position as well as a few preeners, augmenting it with some hens, so I am a bit obsessed with this wing layout style right now. I have 31 heads completed, but I will likely only use around twenty to two dozen for this rig.
 
The neck goes down from the body to the left, up to the left to the chin, back down to the right front, then back up into the base of the skull. I do taxidermy too...the neck forms a tight "S" basically.


 
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