Monday, January 24, 2011

Detailing The Miniature Fisherman's Boat

It has gotten cold here. When I see saltwater freezing on the jetties I know the real winter has arrived!
In the 5 minutes it took to snap a few pictures and feed the gulls some scraps we had for them I could barely feel my fingers.
The frigid weather was a good excuse to stay indoors and catch up on my fisherman project.
One of the things I feel detracts from a miniature is if it looks too perfect. This is especially true for boats.
So after all the careful sanding and painting it came time to beat up the boat a bit. The first thing I did was use a strand of line to rub the gunwale in several places.
Before gluing the seats in place I sanded the paint off here and there and nicked them up with my Xacto knife.

Next I used chalks and a cotton swab to create aged drip marks under the thole pins and at the locations of the bow and transom lines.

Many times fishing boats will have blood splattered about from the thrashing of landed fish. To replicate this I used thinned down dark red paint and a stipple brush. It created a nice pattern of paint at the location where the fisherman would be seated.

The next thing I did was antique the oars and the trawl tub. When the tub was done I packed aluminum foil inside it and topped it off with Apoxie Sculpt clay. Then I took the line which I had aged in brewed tea and coiled it in the tub tacking it in place with Zap a Gap glue.

Next up will be gluing the boat gear and fisherman in place. Then on to creating the water around the dory.

7 comments:

  1. Adorable et parfait ce petit bateau... j'admire la finesse et le travail aussi avec le fil enroulé...
    Comme vous avez eu raison de rester au chaud!
    Bises

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's amazing all the things you need to consider. Your techniques are fun to view. I love your attention to detail and the simple ways you achieve the effects you desire.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My husband would have loved reading your blog and following all the little things you do. He loved doing miniatures and finding ways to replicate the 'real world' into his works. Reading this post reminded me of those times...thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The details you put into your art is just amazing.

    Hope you and your wife are staying nice and toasty! We still have not seen any of thue storm yet on the Eastern Shore of Maryland but I am sure it's coming!

    LuLu!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi,I have read your blog.I understood that your blogging idea is good.It is very follow able.I will follow your style. boat detailing gold coast

    ReplyDelete