Making Dark Cork "FOOTBALL" Style Decoys

           

With the bird sanded it's time to head to the paint shop.

The first step here is to seal the cork with two good coats of your preferred Polyurethane finish.

Note: If you use/like get a oil based poly and the converse for latex/water paints.

 
 

 With the bird well sealed the next step is to fill in the voids left in the cork. Make up of mixture of fine sawdust or cork dust and polyurethane the consistency of peanut butter.

Wearing rubber gloves smoosh this into every crack and crevice until you are happy with the results.

 When finished and dry (minimum of overnight) you should have something resembling this fellow.  
 Get some more sandpaper and make your bird the smoothness you desire and then give it one last sealer coat of poly to prep it for painting.

 Painting is the most intimidating to most folks, this guy shouldn't be he wears simple cloths!

This entire bird will be painted with 2 brushes that are available at any art store and most home centers. One is about 1" across and the other about 3/8" they cost less the $2 each.

 Following a light sanding prime the bird (preferable with a dark primer) with the appropriate primer for the paints you are using.

You can mark out the areas to be painted with a WATERCOLOUR pencil. These lines will not show when you are finished as they dissolve into the paint. Regular pencil will not.

You will need black, white and burnt sienna as far as colours go. You can use Exterior Latex Flat house paints. I've had no problems so far with birds of this type. Remember the choice is yours.

 I base coat the bird starting with the white areas and making 2 coats. Then add the black areas, front and back.

   The pattern is simple, and can be simplified even further into two bands if you wish.