I just wonder in your carvings, had you ever considered mixing some clear epoxy to add to a small length of the end of your wood, so when carving the fins, you could transition your fin, that would allow the end of the fin to extend into the clear epoxy, this way during painting, the end of each fin has that natural transparency through the fins and tail fin, like real fish have. You should try this, and surprise your teacher with it, I bet he would incorporate that unto his fish sculptures as well, once he sees how yours turn out. 🤠👍
When I first started carving 3 years ago, I carved the all the fins out of plexiglass on my first two fish. The only reason I stopped is because a friend of mine talked me into entering competitions. In the World Taxidermy and Fish Carving Championship they have to be all wood. The only thing they allow that’s not wood is the eyes so a lot of people will use commercial glass eyes. Last summer I started making my own eyes out of wood and give them a finish with thick set epoxy that gives them a glass look. Those that carved the eye or made it themselves got extra points from the judges. The eyes on this trout project are ones I made. I feel like I can make more realistic eyes than I can buy commercially. It’s a little time consuming and a little more work but I think it adds another level of realism you can’t get with glass eyes. If you haven’t seen it I have a video on the process.
Great content as usual! I think I'll try a rainbow before I attempt a brookie. Lots of fun and a long way to go on my painting but this is pretty inspiring
Thanks, I’ve got a cool project I’ve got coming up that I’ll be posting about soon. Hope to have the first part up this weekend sometime. But a quick hint. It’s a 40 inch Atlantic salmon carving that a man in Iceland carved and commissioned me to paint it. So I’ll be doing that for my next TH-cam project and there’ll be a LOOOOOT of scale tipping 😵💫
I just wonder in your carvings, had you ever considered mixing some clear epoxy to add to a small length of the end of your wood, so when carving the fins, you could transition your fin, that would allow the end of the fin to extend into the clear epoxy, this way during painting, the end of each fin has that natural transparency through the fins and tail fin, like real fish have. You should try this, and surprise your teacher with it, I bet he would incorporate that unto his fish sculptures as well, once he sees how yours turn out. 🤠👍
When I first started carving 3 years ago, I carved the all the fins out of plexiglass on my first two fish.
The only reason I stopped is because a friend of mine talked me into entering competitions. In the World Taxidermy and Fish Carving Championship they have to be all wood. The only thing they allow that’s not wood is the eyes so a lot of people will use commercial glass eyes. Last summer I started making my own eyes out of wood and give them a finish with thick set epoxy that gives them a glass look. Those that carved the eye or made it themselves got extra points from the judges. The eyes on this trout project are ones I made. I feel like I can make more realistic eyes than I can buy commercially. It’s a little time consuming and a little more work but I think it adds another level of realism you can’t get with glass eyes.
If you haven’t seen it I have a video on the process.
Great content as usual! I think I'll try a rainbow before I attempt a brookie. Lots of fun and a long way to go on my painting but this is pretty inspiring
Thanks, I’ve got a cool project I’ve got coming up that I’ll be posting about soon. Hope to have the first part up this weekend sometime. But a quick hint. It’s a 40 inch Atlantic salmon carving that a man in Iceland carved and commissioned me to paint it. So I’ll be doing that for my next TH-cam project and there’ll be a LOOOOOT of scale tipping 😵💫