Jan 2024 Update

      Happy new year to the 3 people who.         occasionally read my rambles.

You might be asking yourself, 'what's with the frozen tern?'

That's my attempt at artificially aging the paint. 

I forgot who said it, but I heard someone say to leave a decoy outside for a season and it should look good and weathered. And with the weather we've had- on the one hand may be good for artifical antiquing, on the other makes carving outside less pleasurable than other times. 

For the most part I took the holidays off making birds. Earlier this morning I did get myself out to the, I guess you could call it a shaving horse, and got to work. Chopped out a cedar block into a mallard body. I'm thinking this one will be a hen. Debating hallowing it out. Sure it would float higher, then again the drake I'm pairing it up with is solid. 

Also chopped out another old squaw.

I'm not sure if there is a name for this specific type of decoy. It has a flat horizontal body but a fully carved head. I did this so I could have 2 ducks rather than one hollow decoy. 

When it's sanded and painted, I'll dowel on a cedar keel ( it's what I got) and it'll look something like this one:

I also hacked out 2 teal decoys with the same body scheme before Christmas. The heads are roughed out, bodys sanded. Truth be told I'd rather put the heads on full round body's but  don't have the wood in dimension. 

I do how ever have a bunch of branches for root heads I've began whittling down. That's something I'm excited about.

Almost forgot, I entered a poster contest where I have to draw a swan decoy. So I've been studying up on the elusive swan floater, putting book marks in Fleckenstiein's Southern Decoy book. Make that most of my decoys books, excluding those about shore birds or Gunners Paradise, I don't think there's a swan in there.

This is really got my creative juices going, something I've been lacking lately. 'Got an idea I'm fine tuning. What ever the results I'm hoping my design will really stick out. 

Oh you wanna know the best part? Entry is postage, so say $2?

Compare that to the Federal Duck Stamp competition? I think it's just $80 some odd bucks just to get into it.