Fish head details

[sawdust]

I have only started carving fish and am trying to figure out how to get the head feature (gill line, mouth lines, etc.) lines smoothed out after I cut them in with a ruby ball on my dremel tool. I can't keep it perfectly straight so the lines move around a tiny bit which doesn't look natural. Can someone tell me how to smooth and even out the lines?

Thank you!

SD

[AlArchie]

Can't help you with doing that with rotary tools, but I do all that by first incising the lines with a sharp detail knife, then using them as stop cuts for shallow reliefs from behind the gills. If you have a fairly long knife (3" or so) you can shave these relieves with that, or you can use shallow #2 or #3 gouges. I clean them up with fine riffler files.

I find that making those stop cuts along the maxila and premaxila (lips) and shaving in behind them works well. I then round off the lip areas with an emory board. One of those for fingernails you can get at the drug store.

Working all this together and tying them into the branchistegal rays under the jaw line is also done with the incising and relieving method.

I know some of the professional fish carvers are quite adept at using the rotary tools to carve fish, but I have not quite mastered the fine techniques needed for that. I do use the rotaries some for forming the basic body shapes. Then I go to the knives, gouges rifflers and emory boards.

These pics were posted before on another thread but they show the head after the hand carving and sanding with rifflers and emory. I also burn in some detail and burn along some of the carved edges to clean and harden them.

Al

[sawdust]

Al,

Can you explain to me what you mean by "first incising and then using them as relief cuts"? Is this one cut on the trace line followed by a another cut to the first? As a beginner, do you think it might be easier for me to use a gouge rather than a knife to cut the opercle line, the mouth, etc.?

The carved fish below is spectacular!

thank you........

SD

[AlArchie]

Sure......take the opercles, those are the "gill coverings" or plates. First draw on the entire facial area, after you have refined and smoothed the general shape down to ALMOST where you want it. Let's use that bass as an example. Along the line drawn for the main gill plate take yout sharp detail knife (you can even use an Xacto for this) and incise or cut along this line about 1/8" or less deep and angled in toward the head as the gills are under this plate. Now come back toward the tail about 1/2 inch and start to very lightly taper the entire area behind that cut toward the incised cut, finally meeing the incision at that roughly 1/8 inch depth. You can take this material off in stages and you don't have to meet the total 1/8" depth as the gill plates sometimes lay quite flat against the body, but the definition made by the 1/8" cut will still be there.

I suppose those defining incisions could be made with a gouge, but I like to hold a small detail knife like a pencil and just trace the lines I have drawn. A #2 or #3 sweep gouge can be used to make the relieves back from the opercles, and then smoothed out with emory boards.

Note on the bass head that there are contours that develop around and behind the eye, across the cheek and near the mouth. The reason I said to get your refine shape down first is that the opercle gill plates must eventually conform to these contours. The upper end of the opercle is in the recess behind the eye and the lower end morphs into the jaw line.

I'd suggest you find a good set of drawings on fish anatomy, not just photos, as the drawings are quite clear as to what lines will connect and which are seperate. Photos will help in refining and finishing with paint if you are going that way. The Audubon Society Field Guide to Fishes Whales and Dolphins has excellent illustrations on fish anatomy in the front of their book. You can find these books in most book stores for around 20 bucks and in the discount stores for more closely to 15.

Hope this helps.

Al

[flyfisher]

If you've seen images of Al's Largemouth Bass you can be certain he knows what he's talking about.
A reference that has helped me is the "Breakthrough Fish Carving Manual". This is available through the "Breakthrough" taxidermy magazine and I've also seen it at the local Woodcraft store.

[Terry Vance]

I don't know a lot about fish carving. I've seen some that look real. It also looks like it would be time consuming getting all those scales put in.

I do know that when using a round cutter in a dremel or foredom that you have to use the side of the ball in order to keep control of it. If you use the top it will run all over the place. Also, you have got to move slowly in order to keep it going on line. Learned that while trying to put glass eyes in a duck head.

Hope it helps some and good luck with the fish!

Keep carvin'

[AlArchie]

Terry, and Sawdust, just like waterfowl carving, fish, too can be carved as "smoothies". Scales can be simulated by using brial veil material, available at fabric shops, as "stencils". I've used this onminnows and it really works quite well.

First paint your fish with a base color, the one you will want to outline your scales; dark if you are going to have light colored scales, and light if you are going to have dark colored scales. You are going to need some contrast, although sometimes not a lot.

Lay a piece of bridal veil large enough to cover your fish on a sheet of wax paper and spray on a light coating of spray adhesive (any brand will do). Let this dry untill tacky then smooth it onto your pained fish. I use an air brush for this next step but I suppose you could use a good quality can of spray paint, providing you can find the right color.

Either way, lightly spray on the color for the scales. You are only going to get one shot at this so make sure you get it right. As soon as you get the shade and definition you want, peel off the veil, and you will have scaled your "smoothie"! Depending on the amount of contrast you have chosen between the base coat and the scale color, you can now go back and VERY lightly add highlights with secondary colors applied with the airbrush. By using thinned or transparent colors, the scale definitions will still show through. This is far less tedious than either burning or carving in the scales.

I've also "scaled" some smaller fish by using a small 1/4" or smaller half round palm gouge. Simply push that into each sclae edge with a slight twist.

Al

[sawdust]

Al, your description was perfect and I know exactly what you are talking about now. I will give it a try and see what happens this wknd. Thank you!

Thanks to others also, I have noted your recommendations.

SD

[AlArchie]

L.S. Irish (Susan) has provided a VERY basic free pattern and instructions for carving a sunfish "decoy". It is kinda crude, but provides a lot of basic carving techniques for doing fish. I've used this pattern for teaching Scouts and it works quite well.

Woodcarving, Carving a Sunfish Fish Decoy

It's a generic pattern but can be adapted for somewhat more specific fish.

Al

[falconer]

Just thought I'd put in my 2cents. If your power carving fish, the first cut towards any line should be shallow. In respect to the gill area, I always get the body carved first so that both the gill plate and body plains meet and look natural. The depth of the gills will be determined by how open the mouth is. The more open the mouth is, the more open the gills are. I always try to carve the gills and head last or at least until the body is shaped. If you wish, you can take a look at my website, I have a largemouth on there. You can't have enough REFERENCE from as many angles as possible. The internet is a good resource and with a good color printer you can get all kinds of reference.

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