Any wood Carvers out there?

[T-rex]

My son and I have been fortunate to be able to travel a bit with our destinations always aimed in the direction of epic trout fishing. Labrador, Argentina and Western USA. I've been fishing my whole life for trout and only within the last 6 years have I migrated to fly fishing only. Certainly a beginner with various levels of success and knowledge but none the less enjoying the journey. I've been a catch and release angler always trying to capture the successes with my camera.
When Covid hit I vowed to keep myself busy and persue some of my other intersts such as woodworking and art. So I dug through photos and decided to try my hand at fish carving. I have a lot to learn but having fun. Here are some of the results.

My first attempt was a Lahontan Cutthroat from Pyramid lake.



Next an ADK Brook Trout



A Salmon River NY Steelhead



An Argentina Brown


A Labrador Brook Trout. 7 1/2 lbs. Not to scale

[jeffkn1]

Forum member tomvt, Tom Hurd to his friends and family, does quality carving and has posted a few examples here. He doesn't post a lot so finding his posts shouldn't take long.

[john8]

I enjoy carving in my free time, I did a brown trout carving this past year and detailed it in this thread
viewtopic.php?t=143197

[T-rex]

A beautiful job!! What type of paint do you use? I use a bit of enamel for the base colors and craft paints for details. Iridescent pens are very useful also.

[RaspberryPatch]

Very nice work. Yes, I have want to try carving, but have no sculptures since 1984.

[ablecane]

WOW!

[john8]

I use oils to paint the fish wood carvings that I do, Once the paints have fully cured I then put a coat of varnish over it. This is more or less how they guys in Great Britain did these 50-100 years ago so trying to stay true to those methods.

[drbaits]

Exquisite carvings and paint jobs, Mr T! Looks like you are ready to venture out of the trout family!

[Brooks]

Beautiful. As a non-carver, I wonder what do you find more difficult, the carving or the paint jobs? Both aspects are very nice.

[T-rex]

Hi Brooks, For me the painting is a little more difficult. I have learned however that if you are unhappy with any aspect of the painting you can just start over. The carving is a little less forgiving. You have to go slowly. Even then if you take off too much wood it can be corrected with wood putty because it will be painted over. A good way to start out with a mount might be to buy a body blank and paint it. They are made out of foam or resin. It would allow you to get a better feel for the shape and dimensions of the fish.