Eric L Knowlton
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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, AlaskaThanks 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
