What’s on the bench - December 2017

[size 4]Pretty Squaw hens, Dave!!

Started on the Drake to go with the redhead hen painted last month. Spattered the vermiculation yesterday.



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Slow start to the second split. River levels are way down and there's not much water in the sloughs. Keep telling myself that there's plenty of time left.
Especially w/ goose extending into mid-February.

Big pot of vegetable goose barley soup between painting sessions yesterday [smile]
 
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Thank you all for the compliments.... I am really enjoying this, and am looking at selling off some older decoys to make room to do more! Stay tuned for Cans and Redheads in classifieds! Working on the drakes now, and should have them posted before Christmas. Ordered a quart of Dead Flat varnish, due tomorrow. Will coat everything I have completed, except the Wigeon, they were first, and will get repainted after the season!
 
Dave~

Please let us know how that Dead Flat Varnish works out. There's no question that flat latex is not "as tough as snails" - but I'm anxious to see what your varnish does to the luster (or lack thereof). I think a low sheen is fine - but have not personally had satisfactory results with matte sprays.

All the best,

SJS
 
Dave, I am curious, what type paint did you use to paint the decoys? The type of varnish may or may not be compatible.[whistle]
 
So I over coated 3 different decoys to have a side by side comparison. In all 3 of these pictures, the top (back) bird is the over coated decoy. There is a slight additional sheen to them. Not enough to deter me from using this product. If it protects the finish and allows me to scrub off mud and blood without damage to the details I will be very pleased.
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What I used is Modern Masters Dead Flat Exterior Varnish. It is water based. https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Masters-DP401-Exterior-Varnish/dp/B00KQ3S0LM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1512917383&sr=8-6&keywords=dead+flat+exterior+varnish
 
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I am refurbishing a dozen old Herter's Mallards in between typing, for which I plan on doing a quick story soon...

I too plan on "over coating" them when finished. Over the years I have learned two things. First off, an overcoat does a tremendous job on protecting my toy ducks, and secondly however, it makes it difficult to repaint them.

I have tried a couple things, Krylon spray, among others. My latest thought is this- my friend has a business where they repair and coat new or old concrete with an overlay. This could be a sidewalk, a basement floor, a driveway or even an inside bathroom shower. Anyways, after performing the overlay, they always give the finished product two coats of what they refer to as "sealant". This in decoy making essence would be considered an overcoat. I talked to him about these sealants and was told they make a wide array of different coatings from nasty smelling solvent based ones as well as water soluble compounds, and in different sheens from high gloss to virtually flat. I am going to do a little more research, but am seriously considering using the flat, water soluble version for my over coating. According to my friend, they are used for driveways and sidewalks. I figure that would make the compounds very durable as well as very weather resistant.

My thoughts...

Jon
 
Good morning, Jon & All~

Although I have another vessel in the shop, I will be carving and painting until I meet all of my Christmas deadlines.

The shop is nice and cozy - despite today's 8 degrees. CLICK any image to enlarge.

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The sun melted the snow off the solar panels minutes after this photo was taken.

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I have 5 Flyers for Santa to deliver: 2 Woodies and 3 species of Owl. Here's Woodie # 1 - # 2 will get glued up shortly.

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A Christmas present to myself was this 1940s-era Balsa Herter's - a Model Superior (I think) Bluebill.

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Another present-to-myself: Model Superior Black Mallard.

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This iron ballast is by Herter's, too.

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My Dad had decoys like these - without the iron ballast. I will "restore" them - for a life on my shelves.

All the best,

SJS
 
[size 5]Back in 2005 or 2006, the late Bobby Sutton sent me a 1/2 dozen fronds that I made into a small puddler rig.
Well, the rest is history as lots of frond decoys followed, but last season marked 10 years of use for those original frond decoys.
I repainted 2 of the 4 blackduck decoys in that rig this summer (The other two were made into mallards), and finally got around to repaints of the last two blacks this week.

[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]The spatter-painted heads of all these birds held up remarkably well; but instead of repainting the well scuffed & dinged solid base colors of the bodies, I decided to rag and stipple them using light and dark variations of the colors I'd normally use for a blackduck base and feather edging. I like the result - kind of imparts a burnt cork look to the frond bodies.[/font]
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[font=Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif]Good for another decade....now if I can only say the same for me [crazy] [/font]
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Good morning, Bob~

Spectacular! This is a great example of how a rig can be more than the sum of its parts. 'Tis a very lively bunch - even the Sleeper seems to add motion and activity.

The ragging is a great effect, too.

All the best,

SJS
 
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