5/15

Well... been busy with carving some gunners.. here are some photos on how that process is going...

Here is a shot of the two Mallard hens that I'm finishing carving.. snuggler and a swimmer

Also a photo of three Scaup.. two drake and one hen.. the Scaup I'm going to seal this week and get them floated and the Mallards I have to sand the bodies, then glue the heads on put the screw into the head, putty the neck area and a final sanding... they should be ready for sealing by the weekend.. then onto the Mallard drakes...

5/8

Well.. the dust has settled on Worlds.. what a week of carving, looking at carvings, talking about carvings, touching carvings, judging carvings, entering carvings... you get the picture...

Rich and I had great students and Rich showed them many new techniques...

Here are some photos of a Common Merganser of mine and a pair of gunning Loons...

Now we are back to the grind of trying to get birds done and look foreward to next years Worlds...

I think I'm going to do another World Rig... that should be fun...

4/20

Well.. just been working... started making these three Scaup... now the heads are carved and getting ready to do the bodies...

All my birds for worlds are painted and antiqued..only a little dirting in key area and some work on the patina...

Just got to pack my carving stuff, because I'm helping Rich with his seminar at Worlds.. we are making a knothead Canvasback...

then I got pack all the other item that I will need for a week away...

4-11

Well... been working on lots of carvings.. I'm painting the rest of my worlds birds and I started carving and cutting out birds for my order...

Here are some photos on how carving start... first is a trio of Scaup heads, all cut out and ready for the knife... second is a shot of some Mallards that I will get on right after the Scaup...

I got Scaup, Mallards, Shovlers, and Gadwall to make.. don't ask why I started with the Scaup...

If everything goes well I'm hoping to be finished with my Worlds stuff with a few days to spare...

Boy, if you did not have to work... I think I could get a few more birds done..

4/4

Well.. starting to really buckle down and get these birds done for Worlds... As you can see here are two birds that are on there way to being complete...

First is a high head Canvasback that is in some needed of antiquing... painted with oils and carved from basswood...the other photo is a Merganser ready for the paint to be applied... that bird is carved from pine... I have a few others that need some work...

4/3

Well.. April is here and that means Worlds is just around the corner... so the shop is busy, but there is a different intensity than for DU... not everyone will enter or attend Worlds... So I just have to finish carving one more item than I'm into painting 4 projects and antiquing some of these... I'm glad that my Worlds stuff is this far along... looking foreward to the next challenge.. and that is carving many gunners from patterns that I drew... should be fun but also a lot of work...

3/20

Well.. What a busy weekend .. spent the weekend teaching a seminar..

I had 14 people making a Old squaw Drake... we did the whole project with hand tools...

Started on Saturday and finished on Sunday around 3:30pm...

This is a pretty intense way to make a bird.. but if you want to have a finished bird, you have to put the time into it..

I try and make the weekend fun but the main goal is to complete the bird...

Here are some photos of the weekend... some students painting..my work station... we like to call that carving central..

last photo is Lynn cheating with a paint pen.. she was trying to get out of using here paint brush...

now we get to get ready to paint our little project of a mini Tern for carving club tomorrow night..