first attempt needEEL fish

[scottw]

I decided to try to paint a needlefish in an eel pattern, I already spend everyday with an airbrush in my hand for my "real" job and I really admire the work that the plug builders and carvers produce. At some point I'd like to try to sneak a lathe past Mrs. W into my basemant and try turning some of these things. I wish I'd had a grey/blue eye for it like the actual eel in the picture. This one is 7 inches 2 oz. I'm going to try a 9 inch today and try to duplicate the very light highlights under the chin and belly. I used a lot of transparent colors to make it look very slimy. Scott

[Tunacell]

Absolutely awesome work w/ the paint, color is spot on for an eel imatation.

[scottw]

Thanks Tunacell, hopefully a big striper will like it too and decide to inhale!

[scottw]

here is another with a whiter belly and bronzing powders used under the darker areas for a neat effect(tough to photo well to show features), as I look at these it almost seems like it would make more sense to mount the eyes at the other end, don't know how they'd fish backwards but they'd look more like an eel proportionatley, maybe just further up the nose, I'll paint some on and see...

[ChiefLinesider]

sweet, what do you have on there for the clear coat

[scottw]

Ceramithane(a Graham/Muralo product)...I use it on my pottery and porcelain restoration projects, it's the first waterbased poly that I've found that is touted as indoor/outdoor and resisting a whole host of chemicals etc.....threw it off the Vanzandt pier yesterday to see how it would hold up and it didn't fall off or peel, need to bang it on some rocks and really find out, I'd like to use a two part and get a beautiful hard finish like the Afterhours plugs but it's what I had available for now and I can't stand fumes that make my head spin, sometimes if the poly has a hardener additive it's too brittle it will crack and tends to be amber in color, too soft and it gets beat up easily... I've spent almost 20 years trying to find the perfect low/no odor waterbased, water/chemical resistant....easily applied with no fisheyes, orangepeel, brushstroke polyurethane...I'm working on a huge squid right now...this is a fun one!