What's on your Work Bench ? January 2019

More "greenhead mallets" in January.


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Having fun thinking through these deadmount carvings.
"Antiqued" this salvage house panel to hang it on, using latex paint & dark wax. Found a nice old wood-block rope pulley, and copper milk scale to add.
....and like Jeff Lebowski might say, I decided that the color in the '62 Indiana license plate "tied the whole thing together."


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Thanks Steve

It never ceases to amaze me, how such a brightly colored bird can hide so well in minimal cover. As a young pheasant hunter my uncle taught me." Look for their eye".


Best regards
VP
 
ML Bob -

Your current deadmount carvings remind me of the work of Alexander Pope Jr., 1849-1924. His Trompe l'oeil paintings, as well as his carvings.

That is some mighty heady company indeed.

As for "lucrative". I very much doubt that he ever saw the prices his work bring on today's market.

Looks as though the "ill trained Lab" has dragged you out into the 4 lane Interstate highway. AYY?! [smile]


I was unaware of that kind of art, until I went to the Butler Museum of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, as a youngster. There I saw After The Hunt, 1884, a large oil painting by William Michael Harnett, 1848-1892. I was amazed, and stood and stared at the work for a long time. Each and every time I go back I still have the same reaction.


Best regards
VP
 
Vince Pagliaroli said:
ML Bob -

Your current deadmount carvings remind me of the work of Alexander Pope Jr., 1849-1924. His Trompe l'oeil paintings, as well as his carvings.

That is some mighty heady company indeed.

As for "lucrative". I very much doubt that he ever saw the prices his work bring on today's market.

Looks as though the "ill trained Lab" has dragged you out into the 4 lane Interstate highway. AYY?! [smile]


I was unaware of that kind of art, until I went to the Butler Museum of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, as a youngster. There I saw After The Hunt, 1884, a large oil painting by William Michael Harnett, 1848-1892. I was amazed, and stood and stared at the work for a long time. Each and every time I go back I still have the same reaction.

Best regards
VP
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Vince,

You are too kind. "Heady company" double indeed!! Pope Jr. had something unique.

I have been staring at a tin sign reproduction ( Old Winchester promo) of Pope's "Successful Hunter" painting that hangs on a wall in our basement for longer than I can remember......it's been there for as long as I've been fooling with this carving stuff (40 yrs.+ now). It was actually that painting that inspired the panel background for the mallard deadmount, and I have been thinking about doing something that mimics those paintings of his for years, but was always intimidated by the task of figuring out how to pull everything together. I guess we finally get to the point where what we've learned, layered, and absorbed over the years actually makes that possible. Doesn't hurt that not having to report to a "day job" provides a lot of time to work all that out. I started yet another just this week. Lately, experimentation and exploratory works are where the magic is for me.

That pheasant is wonderful!

Bob
 
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While putting Christmas decorations away in the house attic I found 5 incomplete Al McCormick decoys that i made with him in the 1980-s. Two broadbills, 2 Brant and a 5? blackduck. Like finding buried treasure. I must have put them aside to finish later. I often saved one Decoy from a batch to keep for a better finish for a gift or a donation. The blackduck is just rough shaped but the other 4 are smooth with base paint on them.
Joe
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Working with wood is not my strong point, but I'm ok working with metal. I decided to refinish my SBE 2 after the finish became worn and started to flash rust on every outing. I refinished it in John Norrell's Moly Resin "tan flat" aka dark flat earth.
Very durable finish.
I'll post a picture of the complete gun soon. I only did the barrel assembly so far


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George --- you are right on the money. I think the Blackduck was made between 1984 and 1987. I made over 100 decoys with Al in that time span. Some were made with him at his house and some he made the heads and I made the bodies and assembled them at my house. Simple / very effective decoys. The 5" humpback was Al's best design.


Joe
 
Hey, was that Wiley you were using? I recall at that time, they were making only 1 and two inch cork. In '85, after much whining and cajoling, Marty Wiley produced his first 4" cork.
I recall Al using Barge Cement when he demoed at the IBEW hall. Hope you didn't use that stuff in your home![w00t]
I have one of the humpbacks in my collection. I did have one of his blueprints for that pattern, but learned, sadly, that exposure to light made the image fade. Only small bits that were covered by other paper survived. That image is still a part of a giant collage that graces my shop wall. Al taught a lot of you guys on the Island to make stool. God Bless him!
 
That is Wiley cork glued up using Barge Cement to get 5". The adhesive is loaded with toluene. Definitely have to use it in a well ventilated place. It is still used on shoes and aircraft interiors. One of the Brant decoys are also Wiley cork. Al's blueprints were ammonia blue line which will fade in sunlight over time. I have patterns that I cut from his blueprints 30 years ago.
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Joe
 
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