Gordon Stennett - Wildfowl Sculptures at.....
It started in 1975 as a hobby. My father had long admired carvings from another Artist who lived in the area. I was always interested in whatever my father did so, of course, I started working on birds too. Our hobby snowballed into a profession, which now earns me a decent living. I have made more then 4000 Shorebirds and Waterfowl sculptures, which have sold for $75.00 - $1200.00 and are scattered all over the world. The summer of 1998 I had a Wood Duck on display at the Smithsonian for 6 months. Each piece is an original; no two pieces will ever look alike.
In 1977 my sculptures were made from a single type of wood, which we cut on the beach. After sometime this wasn't enough, you couldn't tell one bird from another. We started experimenting by adding other types of wood to the birds. For example, take a Mallard Drake: We use redwood for the chest, myrtlewood for the body, maple and black walnut for the tail, the head is walnut, the bill is satinwood and the eyes are walnut. I tell people I look at the bird like a puzzle, what types of wood match the colors for the bird.
The tools I use are a band saw, a flex shaft, which is much like a dentist drill, drill press and a belt sander. The process I use to produce a bird starts with locating the finest hardwoods available, which originate from the west coast of Oregon, California and Washington. The wood is milled into lumber and is air-dried 3-4 years depending on the thickness of the wood. After the wood has a moisture content of 12% I'll cut it into blocks of various sizes and grains, which will best enhance the final carving. The wood is then placed into a dry kiln to reduce the moisture content to 6-7%.
Once the bird is ready for carving, I begin to give it shape by using a small woodworking tool called a flex shaft. With a flex shaft you can use various sizes and shapes of carbide burrs. After the rough shaping I use a disk sander to smooth the contours of the bird. The carving is now hand sanded to a glass like feel. Next, I apply 5-8 coats of satin lacquer. The last step is a coat of paste wax. The finish will last for years.
