Fighting Fish!

Finished these two beauties for Phil Migliarese at Balance Studios HQ - Fishtown They look great and definitely add some Fishtown flair.

Swingin' Mahi

Before starting this Mahi sign, I really needed to learn a little more about them. Living in the center of a big city, I don’t see many of these fish around unless of course there’s chopstix in my hands. The first thing I noticed about them is that they all seem really pissed off and ready for a fight. I wanted the number plate to highlight just how powerful and fast these fish are. Did you know that a Mahi can swim up to like 60 m/h? Neither did I.

This was a fun fish to work on because it really brightened up my studio and gave me the chance to learn a little about this magnificent fish.

This beautiful Mahi will be the best catch of the day. Sure it’s cliche, but I had to.

The wood template I hand cut from pine. Every sign, and basically every side, is it’s own unique painting. Each side is just a little different.

This was one of my first ideas about combining the hanging number plate with that big powerful fin. Additionally there was a concern that the fin all alone would be especially susceptible to being broken.

Now THAT’S a good looking fish! The photo is a blurry but the smile on his face says it all.

Here’s a view looking out at the water.

Making A Sign

One of the first steps is cutting a fish out from a piece of wood. For this sign, we were using 3/4” solid Pine. Wood widths can vary depending on the project. If you have a specific piece of wood in mind for a sign we can usually use it.

Here are some hooks I had to customize for a particularly odd fitting.

Here’s one of the earlier whimsical fish signs in progress. This is a mockup to see what the signs would look like with the house number hanging from the bottom instead of being right on the fish.

Here’s a mockup for measurements, placements and sign sizes.

Designing & Finishing A Sign

Drawing transferred to wood board ready for cutting.

Living in Fishtown, looking around one cant help but see all the colors around. I want to have signs that stand out and say Hi!

This is the sketch for a custom Koi Sign. It will hang as to resemble a traditional Japanese Koinobori windsock. Landscapes across Japan are decorated with koinobori from April to early May, in honor of children for a good future and in the hope that they will grow up healthy and strong.

When trying to decide on which type of fish to hang outside this classic rowhome, I didn’t need to look further than their front sidewalk.

Here is a freshly cut wooden fish getting ready for a coat of paint. Look at the holes and you’ll notice the syleized bumpouts.

Now it’s beginning to look like something.

The finished product after three or four coats of polyurethane.

Here are two stylized signs. They’re both approximately 24” long and 10” high.