Make a fish.

rainbow!

I cut, shaped, sanded. My best friend, partner, lover and mate painted.

(The image is darker than the actual fish)

among them the American shad, alewife, great white, grouper.

They are all sanded now. I’ll prime the rest tonight and worry about paint with dear Ms. R.

This would give me two fish. But when I started the little saw blad broke and though I rooted and rooted, I appear not to have a replacement on hand. They are too small to be fooling around with on a table saw so I got out the spindle sander and shaped my six into six.

The sanding is rough-in-a-good-way. And rather than futzing with little thin fins, etc., I’m gonna keep them the way they are: suggestive, identifiable, without little parts that break off.

I want my personal trainer and consigliore to have a look, offer thoughts. But right now I’m satisfied with them as a sort of folk-art fish. And If I’m to make sixty, or sixty thousand, they are fine. The gills can be painted. So too spots and racing stripes. You know, like in nature.

six fish begun: Killfish, bluefin tuna, striped bass, triple tail, carp (gold fish) and rainbow trout.

I sketched onto a 2×1 piece of clear pine using a Peterson’s guidebook as reference. Then I got out the scroll saw. Each fish is twice the thickness needed as I’m intending to cut them in half and double the product output. If I make six a week (which is actually twelve), I’ll have a school by this time next year. Next comes cleaning up, sanding, gills, detail. Paint will come by the by.

These are Christmas ornament sized and are one of the new holiday traditions.

I’ve begun a 16 inch long golden tuna. He will be addressed and not forgotten as well.

while I had the table saw out. It’s a start. Next time I have other tools out I will apply to said proto-tuna.

Thank you all for the cheers. And Fish, I’ll share this:

Once, long ago, I wanted to buy a wooden fish. Told no, I resisted by making a salmon. And then I made trout and angel fish and carp and more, all from scrap wood pine.

The biggest was a large mouth bass, of three laminated 2×12’s. It’s great sculpture but I never got the paint right.

It’s been therapy and resistance and hope and more, this fish making.

The smallest was a crude oaken sucker, carved in the stands at soccer matches and elsewhere, with lips pursed for kissing. Unvarnished, natural, right. For her nightstand.

And the last is a half trout, like a wall mount. She is painting us both, me and the trout, now. With informed care and great humor. And I love her for that too.

I want this new fish to be informed by you: a four by four beveled, lopped, rough. Unlike the others, the wood is not dictating. It is a clean canvas. Clear pine, no knots or waivers, no grain striations that call for movement. The body is about 15 inches long, fins and tail to be added from the trimmings of the original post.

Tell me of this fish. I will make it of you. I have a Peterson’s Guide, Mr. Peterson, Mr Fish. So tell. What fish are you? A shark? A crappie? muskie? What fish are you, for it will be.