Painting a Cork Pintail Hen
These time-tested methods work.
Although I made my first cork decoys in 1974, my decoy-making career really began in 1985 when my mentor, Charles F. Murphy (Working Plans for Working Decoys), passed away. During the 36 years that followed I have made and sold nearly a thousand hunting decoys, most of them with cork bodies. I don’t recall exactly when I painted my first decoy with an airbrush and templates, the method I will use in this tutorial. I do have a hen mallard decoy with similar paint in my rig that is dated 1994. I recently had one in the shop for a repaint that was dated 1992. In any event, I have fine-tuned my methods over many years and have had sufficient cash flow to buy and experiment with every kind of paint, airbrushes, and other tools. I have thoroughly tested the materials and methods detailed here. To see how I carve a cork bird, read my article about carving a cork mallard in the Fall 2019 issue. Take from this article what you need for the painting. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions about the methods, products, or tools I use. Happy painting!