Water????

??? Ok has anyone ever made a carveing of a fish / whale and used something to make water. I am looking for a material that could be shaped into a splash or waves to add to a carving I have in the works

[makenchips]

Check out the responses I got to the subject :Artificial water and ice' posted back on July26th with the last response on the 13th of August.Â*Hope it helps. It was under the heading General carving.

Guess i should have ready back into the messages more.

But have now and WOW heck of a lot of information.

Will try a few of the suggestions that you got and go with the best one

Having been the owner of a taxidermy shop for several years I have made many dioramas of mounted fish with artificial water. Depending on the effect you want, there are different ways to accomplish your goal. For an 'undisturbed ' water effect, such as a pond surface (I know - a whale wouldn't be found here but I still wanted to tell you how) use a piece of plexiglass mounted at the height you want for the water. Before placing the plexiglass, paint the 'pond bottom' appropriate colors and add a few sticks, leaves, etc. A light coating of spray glue on top of that will let you drop a fine layer of the foliage that model railroaders use for trees. it makes perfect looking pond algae. Figure out which side of the plexiglas goes down and paint it a dark, translucent green using an airbrush. Wherever you want the water to appear deeper, just put a heavier spray of paint. Mount the plexiglas in place and then catalyze some clear fiberglass resin and pour about 1/8' layer on the plexiglas. As it hardens, use a hair dryer to keep the surface rippled. When it hardens the 'pond water' will look unbelievable real!

For water that is splashing, the easiest method i have found that is still convincing is to go to the local Lowe's or Home Depot and purchase a sheet of plastic that is used in 2' x 4' fluorescent light fixtures. It's clear but has a patter on it that resembles cracked ice. Now the fun part . . . break off a small piece (about 2' x 4' or so) and hold one edge with a pair of pliers. using a heat gun, heat it until it is starting to sag. with another pair of pliers, grab the other edge of the plastic and pull them apart. You will learn to pull and twist, bend and twist, or other techniques that will shape the molten plastic. Another technique is to pull it apart and then relax the pulling to let it go back together slightly. This will make small waves in the plastic.

Make about 20 pieces or so (you'll want to do more because it's pretty fun!) and then just glue some of them together to create a splash effect. Here's a link to a small fish I did for a desk set (not a carving), it's hard to see the detail but you can get an idea of the splash:

http://users.htcomp.net/jds/deskfish.gif

Hope I've explained this so that it's understandable. Let me know if I can help.

Jerry S.

Jerry

First thanks for your responcse. And you explained it very well. Got all the stuff together and will be trying it out later this week.

Alos found information at the yahoo fishcarving site.

Thanks for the information again.

ALSO Love the carving you have done. What was the size of it(the fish)???? And the size of the total display?

Jeff

Howdy!

The fish is not a carving. It's a fiberglass replica of a largemouth bass that is about 10' long. I don't recall the overall length of the display and it's at my office while I'm at home so I can't measure it.

The miniature lure is carved out of maple and then airbrushed and outfitted with tiny treble hooks. The nameplate is scrolled out of ash and the whole thing is sitting on a piece of walnut.

It's not in the photo but I also built a glass case for it that is protecting it now. Just for info, when I had me taxidermy shop, I would make these displays for $400.00 plus $10.00 per letter in the name. They were very popular!

Good luck!

Jerry S.

moving it up