The Quill wildfowl art

11/02/2024

Todays workbench

11/02/2024

Hey gang, new studio move has taken place…more production space and Air conditioning! Not another sweltering western colorado summers for us!
Here’s to a blessed season and feel free to help fill the books!
First in progress yesterday…

02/16/2024

“ hey can you mold/cast duck feet and legs??”
Well…….🤣……. Yep

02/13/2024

Meet our Bird Judge, Ken Howard

Ecclesiastes 9:10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might;…Ken Howard from Fort Worth Texas takes that to heart. Born in Ohio into a family of “old world” craftsmen and outdoorsmen, a great environment for a multifaceted artist to develop was set.
Initial interests in hunting, fishing, outdoors, combined with a natural love of art and composition began to sculpt a career. Kens interests and passions include music, luthiery, archery, woodworking, sculpture, etc… however woodworking and sculpture in particular started a natural progression into taxidermy. A love of sculpture and woodworking, combined with a passion for duck hunting quickly led to decoy carving, then fish carving…” nothing is there for you, every feather, every scale, has to be carved… which forces study, particularly anatomy in its finest detail”.
The transition into taxidermy was natural and seamless, leaning on building blocks that had been in place long before. At a young age, Ken sought out the best award winning taxidermists in his area and offered “labor for apprenticeship”… all of this while balancing school, playing music, and working as wood carver/ cabinetmaker. For the last 30 years, taxidermy has been the spotlight. All the influences, training, an interest had built a career.
In competition, Ken’s simple philosophy that he would want his work to “ sit perfectly in place at an art gallery” produced pieces that has a natural blend of artistic elements, texture, balance, flow, and combining classic sculptural inspirations… has, very humbly, led to multiple Wasco, peoples choice, artisan, state champion, national champion, provenzano, best of categories, presidents awards, etc… however Ken finds the most enjoyment in sharing the experiences of this lifetime passion with others.
“God and family”… Ken finds life’s most precious blessings in those two words… a father of three amazing children cameron, chance, Cheyanne, and married to Leigh “who shows me daily what love is”…”God is the source of all things”…
“ I look forward to meeting you and expanding my… family🙏”

02/01/2024

Hey gang, thought it would be a good time to announce…
I am very honored to have been selected as the bird judge for the 2024 Oklahoma Taxiderimists association convention. It has been a lot of years since I’ve judged Oklahomas show… such a great group of people and talented artists, I can only Pray to serve them well and leave with new and revisited friends.🙏

01/31/2024

Hey gang thought I might share…
this is how seamless shipping birds can be. This shipment was in front range colorado Monday and in my studio Tuesday. The client did an excellent job of packaging, paperwork, shipping. When the question comes up “ best taxidermist near me?”… keep in mind that can be the closest UPS.🙏🙏🙏

12/31/2023

Over 5,000 plays on this reel…humbled.🙏🙏🙏

12/19/2023

12/10/2023

Hey gang, I had someone ask me today how I get ideas for competition pieces…that is a very deep well of thought but I offered this one path. Many times a composition builds from ideas…although this explanation is simplified in this writing, I think it shows the “heart” of the idea.
I started early in life as a wood carver and although I love very refined decorative carving, I also love vintage decoys… so carve a vintage teal decoy replica…element one.
I also love unique, artistic characteristics in waterfowl such as courtship displays…element two.
Now a specimen, I harvested a gorgeous teal on a solo hunt and decided to build something around the teal…so
The following pictures show the amalgamation of elements… which very humbly speaking led to a state champion title, people’s choice, Carlos Adams award, and Wasco award…

11/25/2023

Hey gang, after long consideration I have decided to let last years pricing to carry through the end of year. The one thing that allows me to keep pricing lower is, over 40 years of working, competing, and judging has allowed me to acquire the capacity to keep all things in shop. Many studios have to outsource bodies, eyes, heads, legs, rock, furniture/cabinetry, sculptural elements, etc. While we do at times purchase some supplies out of convenience, it isn’t a ”must. Most of my colleagues are much higher, some almost twice the price… and I may need to increase after the first of year, but as of now staying where I’m at is comfortable…so until then I will remain thankful and blessed to serve you fellow wingnuts!🙏🙏🙏

07/15/2023

On our way back into the west this afternoon, we took a spin through Rifle Colorado… and found a great sporting goods, archery store. Along with being a great store, we were greeted with a friendly and social atmosphere which is getting harder and harder to find. They will definitely get more visits from us… thank you Timberline Sporting Goods!🙏🙏🙏🏹🏹🏹
Bonus content: any shop that has Tooth Of The Arrow and QAD Exodus on the shelf had me at hello!🏹🏹🏹

06/15/2023

Hey gang, needed to do a followup on my judges seminar at the colorado taxidermy convention. For those that weren’t there, in an effort to make things entertaining and educational… I didn’t buy anything for this mount from a vendor, construction yard waste materials mostly, Romex for wiring, pipe insulation, toilet paper, trash foam for carved body, side of road drift wood,etc… why? Life has to continue when supply chains fail! Secondly, and probably more importantly, I wanted to emphasize getting back to basic taxi of skin. When I started 100 years ago, caulk, masters blend, zb400 anatomical head, precision laser traced bodies, etc didn’t exist… and we still had to put together nice smooth accurate birds! So with that in mind this bird was put together with just foam and wire…why? I think if you go back to basics and can put a nice piece together by moving skin… when you add modern techniques, you are polishing an already nice piece. This was the end result, this bird is just as I stepped away from it at the seminar, no further grooming, adjusting, etc…I thought that would honor the purpose of the seminar. I always track my time, the actual time spent mounting this bird and stepping away was just short of 40 minutes…imagine what could be done with a little more time spent and modern techniques… hope everyone can take a little from this.🙏🙏🙏

06/11/2023

Born in the wrong century….

06/02/2023

Seminar bird underway… full seats, so grateful🙏🙏🙏

05/31/2023

https://youtu.be/xUsej10X-rc

The Quill part 3 covers shipping of wildfowl to The Quill Wildfowl Art.

05/31/2023

https://youtu.be/R9W5jncYazw

The quills series part 2 covers field care and cold storage of your wildfowl for taxidermy.

05/31/2023

https://youtu.be/O49ivyHfm8M