Tom Rowe's flocked Broadbill

[Steve Sanford]

Good morning, All~

I am taking the liberty to post a few pictures of Tom Rowe's flocked Broadbill. I have always followed Tom's yearly "manufacture" of his diver rigs - and so was very happy when he sent them through me to bring to last weekend's Contemporary Decoy Exhibition at the Long Island Decoy Collectors Association Annual Show. It gave me the opportunity to appreciate his artistry and workmanship in hand - and also to photograph them both on the bench and on the water.

Tom can describe his process better than I. They are very sophisticated birds, molded with a variety of materials and methods, and finished with flocking.

So - with my apologies to Tom - Enjoy!

All the best,

SJS

 

[Rick L]

Steve-very nice photography
Tom- very very nice decoys

 

[patrick mccarthy]

I've seen Tom's rig deployed on the Niagara river.
Its very impressive! He may have had 10 dozen or more out, bills, cans and redheads. It's tough competition if your anywhere near him when he's out.

 

[P. Revicki]

Steve,
Those two decoys just might not make it back to him, it seems they are enjoying there time in CT. Great looking decoys Tom, they look real in the pictures.
Pete

 

[Will M]

That drake is incredible

 

[Tom Roberts]

Couldn't ask for a more realistic looking decoy!

 

[Phil Nowack]

Look Great!

 

[Pat Gregory]

Great work Tom!
Definitely worth the shout out Steve!

 

[mike kuhns]

In a word... Beautiful!
He does amazing work!

 

[Bill Clark]

Steve, thanks again for posting up the photography is great.

Tom, You have out done yourself. "Real" seems to be the descriptive word that best describes the scaup. They float with their tails at water level as they should.
By the way i enjoyed your can sleepers this last season.

 

[john bar]

great looking decoys!!

 

[Paul Taylor]

Those are absolutely incredible!

 

[R. Greco]

Sometimes you guys really amaze me at what can be made by the hand of man...beautiful!

 

[R T Brinn]

Gorgeous birds and photography -- two artistes at work! When you get a bunch of Tom's sleepers deployed in a diver rig, they really dress it up. Next year have him send down a pair of his cans -- they are handsome birds as well! Best to all

 

[Phil Eager]

Those are some nice looking birds

Phil

 

[John Unruh]

Thanks Steve for the pics, seeing these decoys in the water really shows how nice they are, Great decoys Tom!

 

[Tom Rowe]

Steve, what tremendous compliment coming from a master decoy carver like yourself. I'm honored that you took the time to post a few pics. Thank you. I will say that your photography skills make the decoys look much better than they are.

Thanks for the kind words all. I'm hoping to crank out 40 or 50 for this years rig. After seeing all the birds in the Three Mornings and lots or broadbill post, I'm glad I decided to make some new bluebills!

 

[Ed L.]

Those decoys are incredible. They look like they could get up and fly. I wouldn't even dream of putting them in the skanky Mississippi River. The flocking would be eatin off in a week I'm afraid. Great job on flocking as well as the photography.

 

[Tom Rowe]

Thanks for the kind words Ed.

Believe it or not flocking, if done right, is waaaay more durable than paint. The only negatives I've found is that it does pick up fine particles from the water which appear stain the white... And ice sticks to it like glue.

In reality, the flocking doesn't get stained. It just traps fine particles. It's easily cleaned with soap and water or oxyclean.

The ice on the other handis brutal. You can't just knock it off. You need to thaw the entire decoy.

 

[Dave Speer]

Nice birds, Tom!

And, what he said...

flocking, if done right, is waaaay more durable than paint.