May, "What's on your Workbench?"

Pat , your a machine! a true rig maker. Bob I like that pose. very inspiring . Here a black duck I finished up. hollow cedar artist oils.


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BobM that IMHO is the best decoy you have ever done, I really like it.

finished up the fish eaters today awaiting them to not be tacky to keel.

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Sean,

I have looked at your decoys for a while now and your ducks bills are so life-like. Just incredible...
 
I love the Black Duck, the owl, and the Petersen...esk Mergs!! Nice work everyone! Hitch
 
Sean,
That Black is nothing less than outstanding. Maybe I am imagining it, but I seem to be detecting subtle changes in color, feather patterning, flow, etc from your classic blackduck. Could be at the request of your customers or I am off my rocker. Anyway, I like it.
 
Thanks fellas ! Steve, I make a number of different style decoys. I change it up depending on what the person request. But i glad you like it. Thanks for the kind words. Sean
 
Hey Tom. I think those Mergs are some of the best birds you've ever made. They are different and that is what it's all about. The paint on the side pockets is great. Hope all is well...
 
Hey folks, new to the site but recognize several from various forums. The decoy threads I have browsed on this site have been very humbling as well as inspirational. Here is a block that I just finished.... hollow cedar, acrylic paint and hopefully a classic gunner look.

And yes, I know, I should be out spraying my lawn for those nasty dandelions rather than sitting on a computer.

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Ryan,

That's a very clean redhead. I like it. Nice job on the spatter as well!

Forget the dandelions; it's probably too wet to mow anyhow.
 
Finally got a minute to start working on some foamers again! I'm going to attempt a few geese and use up the rest of what foam I have for a few more divers.

I tried out my new setup for cutting out my hardboard patterns and it seemed to work pretty well, as long as you go slow. I rigged up the router to the table with a small flush cut bit. I transferred all my paper patterns to hardboard so they will be easier to trace and the head patterns will be glued (sandwiched) in between two pieces of foam for strength and to aid in carving.
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New to the forum here. I see some familiar names and see a few new names. Looking forward to see everybody's work. I happened to stumble up Mr. Lawrence's website one day while browsing. I've always been an admirer of John's decoys but especially his thoughts and attitude on carving. I find them very inspirational and motivating. I never knew about this site until I read John's blogs so here I am.

Here are some pics of some of my more recent work. The bluewing is hollow cedar and first bird in oils. The hen pintail is my Ward/NEA project decoy I made with Tom Christie last year. The greenwings are cork and acrylic. The hen mallard is a pine 2 x 10 decoy. Hollowed and painted in oils. The hen was my second attempt in oils. I tried more wet on wet blending with this bird and some glazing. I probably never would of tried a 2 x 10 if it wasn't for John.

The block of wood the hen mallard is sitting on is the first bird of a five bird rig of pintails. Not really sure what kind of wood it is. It has a nice tight grain and carves really well with a knife. I'm going to call it my Psalm 100 rig, I like to put a Bible verse on the bottom of my decoys. I found this wood in an old barn at the farm where my dad lived. It came from a larger barn that fell down years ago. Luckily someone salvaged a couple of the beams. My dad said that barn was built in the early 1900's and use to house the town's horses. He thought that wood could be close to 100 years old.

The reason for Psalm 100 and pintails. About a month ago I lost my mother to cancer. She was under hospice care at home the last few weeks of her life. We made a promise to her we would make sure she would spend her last days at home with family. During that time I was helping my dad with his garden at the farm. I happened to walk in that barn snooping around and found that wood. I know I would have never found that wood if I hadn't been back at home taking care of my mom. It was actually the first time I had ever went in that barn. When we were making the funeral arrangements the pastor suggested we read Psalm 100. Psalm 100 just happened to be scripture I had been trying to memorize at the time. I choose pintails because in my mind they are the epitome of beauty and grace. My mother was a beautiful lady and God's grace is what saves us.



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Steve,

Glad you found your way over. I think you'll like this website, a lot less pretentious and also a lot more variety.
I'm glad my thoughts have helped you.

Your decoys are definitely very nice and I like the idea of your theme for a pintail rig. Looking forward to seeing the progress you make on them.

Welcome.
 
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