Ted Muir

Ted Muir is passionate about carving birds.

Specializing in crafting stylized birds, finished to accentuate the natural beauty of wood, his works of art are simple in design and presentation. Each carving has the knack of resonating with those who seek a connection with nature.

His interest in carving was nurtured by a life-long admiration of nature complimented by years of volunteer work and an accomplished career in wildlife conservation.

Over the past 15 years Ted has donated upwards of 700 carvings to the fund raising efforts of major wildlife organizations. 

Ted’s signature carving is the rusty nail shorebird – characterized by an antique square nail bent to shape a bird beak. The shore-birds, be they curlews or plovers, are fashioned from wood with a strong design feature. It may be a stunning clear grain or a funky swirl punctuated with bark intrusions, worm holes, fungal stains (spalting) or marble like designs. Each of the pieces is mounted on a base of driftwood or weathered oak farm fence post.

Ted employs a diversity of woods including butternut, Manitoba maple, Russian olive, black walnut, black poplar burl, yellow cedar burl, Douglas fir burl, rocky mountain juniper and buffalo berry.

Exotics like zebra wood and tiger wood are occasionally pressed into action. His nails have been sourced across Canada -– mostly from antique dealers.

The fashioning of full body shorebirds has gave rise more recently to hooded merganser decoys, weed pot vases, tea lights and teredo wood incorporated into shadow plovers, patio cranes and gate birds.