Atticus Finch
Call Me a Cab
- Messages
- 2,718
- Location
- Coastal North Carolina, USA
I started this decoy almost thirty years ago. Back in the early eighties, when I was teaching and had more time, I used to make a couple of dozen decoys every year. I didn't carve decorative birds...I actually hunted over my decoys, so they had to be the real deal. They had to withstand soakings in ice cold water, and being stuffed together in burlap sacks, and being generally thrown around, roughly...and they also had to look like ducks to ducks. This was one of the last dozen I cut out and didn't finish because I resigned my teaching position and went to law school. Not long ago, I was in the attic of my garage and found the bag of unfinished decoys. I figured it was about time to begin wrapping up this old project.
The decoy is of a drake bufflehead. The body is made of natural cork laminated to a juniper base board...scrounged from a local boat yard. The head is juniper also. I only use common hardware store purchased, oil based paint...because that is what was available to the generation of carvers that taught me to make decoys. Also in the background is a bufflehead drake made by Captian Julian Hamilton, Jr., who shared his craft with me more than any of the old carvers I knew.
I just finished painting this decoy this afternoon. The paint appears shiney in the photo because it is still wet. When it dries, it will be flat and non-reflective so as to look more natural on the water.
I wish I had a larger photo, but Cap'n Jule is the gentleman on the right.
AF
The decoy is of a drake bufflehead. The body is made of natural cork laminated to a juniper base board...scrounged from a local boat yard. The head is juniper also. I only use common hardware store purchased, oil based paint...because that is what was available to the generation of carvers that taught me to make decoys. Also in the background is a bufflehead drake made by Captian Julian Hamilton, Jr., who shared his craft with me more than any of the old carvers I knew.
I just finished painting this decoy this afternoon. The paint appears shiney in the photo because it is still wet. When it dries, it will be flat and non-reflective so as to look more natural on the water.
I wish I had a larger photo, but Cap'n Jule is the gentleman on the right.
AF
