[BlueCrab]

I just joined the forum yesterday,

I have been carving and painting realistic song birds since 1995. However, I started out by trying my hand at decoys. I was living in Maryland at the time and early on began attending the Ward Museum Championship Carving Show in Ocean City, Maryland.

I started doing song birds using Rosalyn Daisey's books and was soon taking classes from her. I also have taken several bird carving and habitat classes with Bob Guge. I use Tupelo wood and a rotary shaft Foredom to take off most of the wood, then switch to a Foredom Micromotor with ruby and diamond bits to finish texturing the soft feathers; woodburning is used to do the wings and tail. Painting is done with acrylics.

My first bird was a drake Bufflehead decoy which took first place for the species in the Novice Class at a show in Virginia Beach, Virginia. One of my chickadees won a third place in the Novice class at Ocean City, and others have taken ribbons at other regional shows. WIP includes a Lesser Goldfinch for an aunt and a Dark-eyed Junco for a cousin, and I have just completed a male Mountain Bluebird.

We moved to Nampa, Idaho 3 years ago because we wanted to retire here; I will retire next year. I taught college biology for nearly 30 years, and am a deep-sea biologist by academic training (PhD from Oregon State University). I currently am teaching high school science.

I'll try to add photos of some of my birds to a gallery soon.

[Bill]

Welcome, and looking forward to seeing your work.
Bill

[fiddlinjack]

hello! Glad to see I'm not the only new person here. I'm new to wood carving and maybe you could help me. Look foward to talking with you.

Jack

[GeorgiaCarver]

Welcome to the fourm, you will really enjoy it here. Lot's of good folks that love sharing how to carve. I look forward to seeing some of your work.

Greg

[tnartist05]

Welcome Bluecrab~

[Claude]

Welcome to the forum. If you have photos of your winning birds, please post them so we can see.

Claude

[wood-whittler]

hello and welcome to the board.

bart

[squbrigg]

Welcome aboard Bluecrab. Good to have an experienced carver with us to exchange ideas with.

Bob

[Joy]

Welcome to the forum! Hope you enjoy the group. Jump in and share your thoughts, tips, and photos.

I bet it is hard to get BlueCrab in Idaho

[santagibbs]

It's nice to have you with us Blue Crab. Anything to do with Marine Life is a love for me, as I was born and raised in Florida.. I am looking forward to seeing your work and hearing of your experiences..Welcome and glad to have you! Charlotte