Pretty In Pink

My Haley Trike is looking good today, especially against the pink brick outside of LMNO in Fishtown.

Inside the box is a finished fish sign, a 35lb. WolfWise 15.5’ Aluminum Telescoping Ladder, a 28” iron sign bracket and all the tools I’ll need to install onto the side of someone’s home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu0sYQRECkY

The Pink Jawn

Hello and check out this fintastic sign I just finished. It’s hot pink and black with a clear gloss finish, painted intentionally to add a big splash of color anywhere she, or he hangs.

This is a double-sided wood sign measuring 24”x 12" and is ½” thick. I always use high-quality materials and deliver your fish fully assembled and ready to hang.

Click the link below if you're interested

Rainbow Fish with Chimes

I’m very happy with this beauty, a rainbow fish sign with wind chimes! Like all of my signs, this was hand painted and assembled in my studio here in Fishtown. It’s the first sign I’ve made with chimes and they sound great, instantly adding an element of calm to the air. This may be the first one, but it’s definitely not the last.

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Stuffed Rainbow Trout

It’s a trout that’s stuffed!

There's nothing better than a stuffed fish and this trout recipe will not disappoint. Look at those two fish, they were swimming around looking for Nemo not too long ago.

Ingredients:

• Olive oil

• 2 medium rainbow trout (whole)

• Salt and pepper (to taste)

• PC Fish Seasoning powder (to taste)

• Lemons (sliced)

• Fresh parsley

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
On a cookie sheet, lightly drizzle some olive oil onto aluminum foil. Rinse two medium whole trout with water; pat dry with paper towel. Drizzle some olive oil on the outside of the fish and season the cavity with salt, pepper, and PC Fish Seasoning powder. Add lemon slices inside the cavity and some fresh parsley.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes and check for doneness. Add more time if needed. Not too much time… don’t ruin it!

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.