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.

A Lazy Weekend

I had planned to fish the outgoing tide Saturday and Sunday morning but things didn't work out. The new moon brought strong sweeps which I'd counted on. The stronger than usual current actually makes some fishing lures work better.

What I hadn't expected was tons of seaweed!It would have made fishing next to impossible. The surfers weren't bothered by the seaweed and seemed to be having a ball surfing the seven foot waves off Long Beach.

Instead my wife and I decided to take a beach walk and throw some stale bread to the birds.

These are mostly Ringed-bill gulls. They are pretty good at snatching the bread in the air but would come in second best to a fly off with a Laughing gull. Lucky for these little beggars no Laughing gulls were in sight.

I like how three seagulls are honing in on the piece of bread in the picture above!

When we got home I decided to paint some work I had started ages ago. I primed a fisherman and cod fish I had sculpted and got some painting done.

I have a wooden boat I built that the fisherman will be sitting in. The stick in the cod fish serves as a handle for painting.When it is all together it will show the fisherman unhooking the cod.

Lobsterman Sculpture

During the winter months when I'm not fishing I often like to spend my time building wood boat kits. I've always had a soft spot for working boats like dredge boats and dories.

I suppose it was only natural that I eventually combine my love of the sea with my passion for sculpting. One of my recent sculptures in this theme is the Lobsterman. This piece depicts a lobsterman rowing his skiff called a Peapod through calm waters as he is about to drop his last trap.

The lobsterman figure is sculpted of Apoxie and polymer clays. The Peapod was hand built of wooden strips bent and fastened to the ribs much like a real Dory is constructed.

The trap was fun to make. It is highly detailed and features a piece of fish bait, a brick for weighting down the trap and a marker buoy. The finishing touch was adding a bit of broken shell and seaweed covered by some clear resin to give the effect of seawater sloshing in the bottom of the skiff.

The sculpture is mounted on a stained and varnished wood plaque over which Apoxie clay was sculpted to simulate water lapping at the hull. The sculpture measures 18" L X 9" W X 6 1/2" H and is finished in acrylic paints.