Fish Carving

    Like all our projects we tried to keep the need for equipment to a minimum, so our major equipment consisted of a band saw and scroll saw.  Each member provided their own wood rasp, carving knife(s) of widely varying sophistication( everything from a jackknife, xacto or fancy carving tool ).  They all worked !!.  In addition foam sanding pad, sand paper and some small brushes were supplied by the individual members.

    Reg had produced a pattern for an 8" trout and obtained some solid basswood blocks for the body and light 1/16" sheets for the fins.  Glass taxidermy eyes had been purchased also.  The process involved tracing the pattern for a side view of the trout on the solid block as well as a top view.  The pattern was cut from the solid block twice, once for top view and secondly for side view using the band saw.  The mouth opening and insert area for the caudal fin were cut using a saw slit.  The member then had a rough shaped trout body.  The fins were traced on the thinner piece of wood and cut with the scroll saw.  A pilot hole was drilled through the solid block for eye location from the initial pattern. Using the wood rasp and carving knifes, the body was shaped in the round and smoothed with the sanding foam to get the correct body shape.  The detail for the mouth and facial features were carved in with carving knifes.  To add texture to the fins, a wood burning tool was used.  With these tasks completed, slits were made in the body of the trout to receive the tabs associated with the fins.  The final step in the carving process was to make the circular depression in the head to receive the eyes.  When all was done, the carving was given a damp wipe and re-sanded to get rid of fuzz.  The fins were then permanent affixed using a drop of crazy glue at the base. Eyes embedded in plastic wood so that they appeared to be part of the complete fish.  A completed fish in the "raw" is at the right.  Time to this point for most members was about 10-15 hours.
 

        Now the true fun was about to begin, the painting.  Most of the members are more comfortable painting a house, kitchen or the fence than they are at blending of colors.  I will not go into detail here, because I am more of a house painter than an artist as a result the concept of a little paint going a long way was one of the things that I must work on.  The wooden fish was given a light coat of white undercoat as a sealer and then thanks to Reg, the paint process took place.  About 15 washes with various shades of colors were used along with pearl, silver and gold metallic acrylic paints were used.  One important concept that I learned was don't rush it, the trick is to build colors slowly so that previous layers have a chance to shine through.  The arguments about the proper color for a rainbow trout were very interesting.  Anyone trying this should have many different pictures of trout to work from.  Our picture books and magazines got one heck of a lot of scrutiny for this phase.  The final step was the applying of the "black" spots to the fish with a small brush. At the left we have a picture of Reg supervising KK during the finishing process. The final stage of finishing to give the fish a wet look was to apply a coat of high gloss lacquer.  Timeline for this was another 10 -15 hours, hey remember we are not working with Rembrants here !!!

        Where the results worth the effort, you bet they were.  Some members mounted there trout in shadow boxes using drift wood, slate and assorted backgrounds for table displays and wall hanging.  Everyone was pleased with the results and I can see where this is going to be an annual activity once the rest of the members have a chance to see the results.  Just look below at the final projects, unfortunately not all of them were mounted in their displays at the time.  The results were most impressive, a great first effort.  A great activity when the weather gets cold and a fisherman has to have a fish.

        Special thanks to Reg for taking a bunch of rough carpenters and house painters through this project.
 

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