Fish Carver
- This topic has 17 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated Feb 27, 2014 at 9:50 am by
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A friend of mine landed a magnificant rainbow on the Provo lst month. She is thinking of having a carving made and me for recommendations. Unfortunately, I’m at a loss. Does anyone know a good fish carver?
Only $180!
Hahhaha. (I actually like it but I know you’re looking for a realistic trophy).
This guy looks legit and he looks particularly comfortable with rainbow trout:
http://www.carbonesflyfishing.com/wood.htm
I’ve looked into high end striper mounts for a while. If I were ever to catch a 30 lb.+ striper on the fly I think I would need to have it mounted. One thing I have learned is that the shimmery effect necessary for some fish can be very well reproduced with gold leaf as a backing layer below the airbrush. But, it’s expensive. A high end fiberglass striper mount is over $1,000.00 and that obviously does not require hand-carving.
My mother has worked for galleries in the Sedona/Flagstaff area, and she gave me this Bronze brown trout as a gift (that now hangs on my wall). I imagine the artist could replicate a requested fish photo, but I’m not sure. If this looks like something you might be interested in, Let me know, and I’ll have my mother get the artist’s info for you.
Travis
Michael….I have a friend that carves fish on occasion. I have no idea if he would do one on a commission basis….but will find out if you are interested. Here is a pic of one he did prior to mounting it on a piece of driftwood.
Live, play and fish on the provo myself. Attached is a picture of a 32 inch Sockey Salmon I am currently working on.. My studio is in West Valley if anyone is interested in having a fish sculture, I can be contacted @ randymarythomas@comcast.net
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Oooh that is very cool! Randy, do you mind running us through your process? I’m intrigued.
(Also just a side note, this board does have a real name policy when you get a chance. Thanks!)
Zach
Zach, I just recently found and registered for your site.
My name is Randy Thomas. I am 64 years old and a retired engineer. I live in West Valley City Utah.
I start off with several good reference photos and a block off wood, (usually “Basswood” or “Tupalo”). I draw or trace a pattern resembling the fish on it and then run it thru my band saw. I use a Foredom power carver to ruff out the shape, then a lot of sanding.
I like to not only have a picture of the fish but something I can use as a size reference like a hand. I will size the scales in reference to say a finger. I will make my woodburning tip from ni-crome wire and shape it to match that of the fish. The fish pictured took me over 20 hours just to burn in the scales. There are many ways to make scales, but for a high quality carving burning or carving them in will bring the premium price. I will be completing this fish this week and it will be delivered to it’s very proud new owner. He provided me with about 50 pictures of the fish and his buddies.
Painting is just as important as the carving but considerably less time consuming. I have a large flat screen monitor in my shop so I can reproduce the fish color and markings accurately. I will use as many as 15 or 16 coats of paint and finish with 2 ro 3 clear coats to give it that right out of the water look.
Started fishing with my father as a child and carved with him prior to him passing in 2003. Either fishing or carving I feel his presence with me.Hi woodenfish,
FYI . . .
You probably weren’t aware of it, but Zach has a board policy that people must register using your real name. You’ll probably be asked to create a new account, or change your current one if that is possible.Yeah it’s possible to switch your displayed name out for the real name, which is all I ask.
That’s very cool Randy. Sorry about the delay getting back to this – I was out of town. So in addition to just burning in the scales, you actually also etch the fish out with the burner? That’s amazing. Very similar to high end rifle stock checkering, I would imagine.
If you get a chance, we would all love to see the final product.
Zach
Phil, he’s the guy for the piece I posted? Honestly that’s the coolest-looking trout sculpture I have ever seen.
Hmm. Maybe we need to invite him on the podcast…
Zach
Note: There are only a few fishcarvers that have it dialed in and Eric Knowlton is one of them.
Thanks, GaylenThanks Gaylen! I just checked out your work and it is fantastic as well!
I specialize in trout, salmon and char – prefer the species I fish for, and we have lots of them here in Alaska, as well as long winters to carve.I can recreate a trophy or special catch from your photo or a memory – I offer full body pedestal and wall mounts as well as traditional ‘European’ wall mounts (half fish on a nice wood panel).
Appreciate the podcast Zach did with me last fall. (http://www.itinerantangler.com/blog/podcasts/2013/10/29/podcast-out-of-the-myths-with-eric-knowlton/)If anyone wants to see more of my work you can see it on my website at http://www.reeltrout.com or find my updates on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/reeltrout or follow me on Twitter @reeltroutstudio
Great site, I owe Phil Brna for turning me onto it!
– Eric
Great stuff Eric, thanks for swinging by.
I have a carving question. For me one of the areas of a carved fish that looks the least real is up inside the mouth. On this one you’ve really hollowed it out quite a ways back, but with a lot of carvers they just kind of seem to give up and leave an obvious divot there. I’m sure it’d be hard as hell to actually carve the inside of a trout’s mouth, but have you ever tried? And if so does the effect of realism grow even stronger? For me this is kind of the Uncanny Valley effect when it comes to carved fish, and I wonder if it can be defeated.
Zach
Good question and point, Zach.
I carve the entire tongue (not shown well in these shots due to angle). The upper inside has minimal detail on this particular piece, but on large commissions I always slice the head open and carve both the upper and lower sections of the mouth. It does add a great deal of realism.On the trout above, the upper mouth was carved but not in high detail. The tongue and depth are carved and go back as far as the throat latch.
On my ‘smoothy’ or rustic line of carvings, I don’t over carve the interior, but its mostly an economics issue – the price point that customer is wanting to pay does not warrant the additional work required (also no scale burning, a process that is a solid third of the carving time, but greatly adds to the lifelike nature of a carving when done correctly.
On some of the smaller carvings (under 20″), I carve the mouth area out, then sculpt the general details in epoxy putty due to the difficulty of getting tools in very deep without damaging the outer mouth (the bits won’t reach deep enough and the rotary collet winds up tearing at the lips).I also don’t tend to add teeth in the typical taxidermy method after the carving is done. To me, it makes trout look far to toothy. Instead, I carve or burn the impression of teeth in, and paint them lightly to show the impression of teeth. The exception would be a trout or salmon in the height of spawning when the teeth tend to really show.
I’m wrapping up a few commissions, I’d be happy to post more photos if you like!
Eric
Reel Trout Studio
http://www.ReelTrout.com
Wasilla, Alaska
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