"We were making less than NT$20,000 per month and going deeper and deeper into debt," said Lee.
But then Shuang Feng received some inspiration in March, 2003 from a Taichung group called Guan Shu Educational Foundation (觀樹教育基金會). The foundation helped turn Shuang Feng into the Duck Treasure Shop, where do-it-yourself ducks could be produced cheaply and sold for more than those made to fill oversea orders. Now, the three woodworkers at Duck Treasure Shop produce ducks much as they did before (only now in a wider variety of shapes and sizes) except they leave off the final touches. For NT$200 to NT$1,000 (depending on the item's size) customers can choose a duck, paint it, dry it, spray it with finish and then take it home to put on their porch, hearth or wherever.
"The best part is choosing the colors," said customer Ya-xun (雅薰), 18, who had just finished painting her duck in a pattern of pink, yellow and sea-foam green that resembled a can of Arizona iced tea. "Each duck has its own pattern, but I wanted to do something a little different from everyone else," she said.
The entire process of painting, drying and spraying takes approximately two hours. According to Lee, that's enough time to let kids and parents to work on one duck together, as the children will surely get distracted after 45 minutes and run out to play, leaving the parents to touch up their paint jobs. This way, she said, families can take home a finished product that everyone can be proud of.
And if you don't trust yourself to create a duck that resembles an actual living creature, there are plenty of pre-painted loons and mallards on sale in the shop. There's also a selection of indigenous Taiwanese fowl, such as the Mikado pheasant featured on the NT$1,000 bill, and a variety of wooden bears, frogs and birds designed by Taipei-based artist He Hua-ren (
Getting there: The shop is at 176, Chonghe Road, Sanyi Township, Miaoli County
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