“A true labor of love”: hand-carved wooden birds by an artisan

After retiring from his career as a computer scientist four years ago, 70-year-old Larry Sprague began woodworking in earnest, eventually settling on crafting birds based on species he found on the beach or at his bird feeder. As more and more wooden friends began to accumulate at his North Potomac home, Sprague’s wife, Georgiann, gave him a gentle nudge to thin out the flock in their increasingly crowded nest.

Thus began Sprague’s second career as an artisan, carving wooden birds and making aluminum butterflies under the name LCSprague Artisan Crafts. “It’s a passion for the hobby,” he says of his zeal to create more than 200 seagulls, swans, wrens and the like each year. “I enjoy creating things.”

Most popular are his “comfort birds,” small creatures made of wood and colored resin that fit in the palm of your hand and cost between $35 and $40. Sprague started making them because his wife loved the way they felt in her hands; she says each one has a different personality. Now, customers are buying these comfort birds—he estimates he’s sold well over 100 since he started in May 2023.

“I liked the idea of ​​having a cute little bird on my desk to play with and hold during video calls,” says Silver Spring customer Tacy Lambiase. “I work from home and play with hair ties and pens during calls – I thought a comfort bird would be a nice change.”

Sprague has had a lifelong passion for woodworking. His father taught him the art as a child, and growing up on a lake in New Jersey, surrounded by wild nature, gave him countless subjects to carve.

Sprague has collected wood over the years to fund his hobby and uses it for unpainted wood carvings. A friend who works in wood donates leftover walnut, which Sprague uses to make stuffed birds. For the rest of his products, he purchases wood from local lumber suppliers and creates his masterpieces in garages and basement workshops at his home. Stuffed birds take about two hours to complete over three days; other projects may take longer.

Experienced birdwatchers praise him for the precision of his life-size carvings and paintings of birds such as mallards, downy woodpeckers, chickadees, sandpipers, herons, thrushes, cardinals and hummingbirds.

“It’s scientifically accurate — that’s important to us,” says Kathy Caisse, gift shop manager at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, one of the sellers of Sprague’s wares. “It’s also very local — who wouldn’t love that?”

Customers can order custom pieces by contacting Sprague through his Facebook or Instagram page. He will ship the items or arrange for pickup. A frequent exhibitor at local markets, he says he can sell 40 birds a day. His smaller hand-painted birds and ducks cost between $45 and $65. Larger birds and ducks cost between $100 and $150. Depending on the size and detail, some carvings can fetch $350 or more.

“I really enjoy going to the markets because I get to meet the people who buy the things,” Sprague says.

Butterflies made from reused aluminum cans have joined the artisan’s repertoire. “Actually, it’s soda and beer cans, but to be honest, most of my butterflies are beer cans,” he says. “You can put them in the garden all year round.”

Rockville resident Larissa Johnson saw Sprague’s butterflies at Brookside Gardens and was immediately hooked. She contacted Sprague directly, ordered butterflies and picked them up at his home. “I love them; they grow in so many plants at my house,” she says. Johnson bought large 4½-by-3½-inch butterflies with a 15-inch rod made of recycled aluminum for $15 each and a smaller 3½-by-2½-inch version with a 9-inch rod for $12 each.

The owners of Locally Crafted in Gaithersburg, which carries Sprague’s products, know the local craft landscape and say the fruits of his labor are unique. “People constantly comment on the quality of the woodwork,” says Heather Luxenberg, co-owner of Locally Crafted. “You can tell that attention has been paid to each piece and it’s a true labor of love.”

“I think what impresses me most about his work is that very few crafts are made entirely by hand,” says co-owner Stacey Hammer. “He literally takes a piece of wood and makes something different out of it.”

This story appears in the May/June issue of Bethesda Magazine.

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