The Standard Shad

FRESH FISH for a changing neighborhood

On a random day in November, at a random hour in the middle of the week it struck me; It was time to make that fish sign! I went directly into my studio and found all the sketches, measurements and color studies. I prepped a piece wood and began cutting. Once I began painting, it wasn’t long until my very first hand-made “Fishtown” fish was complete and ready to hang. This was something on my “to do” list ever since buying this house. I probably would have bought a fish sign from the local Neighborhood Association if they had one available, but they didn’t. At least one in the shape of an actual shad. Plus I needed something with some personality, with some potential.

Standard Shad

Fishtown, Philly

My name is Troy, and this is my Standard Shad. I wasn’t trying to re-invent the fish sign. I took a classic approach to a sign everyone already loved and updated it with my own idea of a durable piece of art that you can be proud to hang on the front of your home. Each sign is unique, I use high-quality materials and offer a limited warranty.

And because I’d like these fish signs to do a little bit of good, for every one sold 10% of the sale will go to the Fishtown Neighborhood Association.

No two are fish are identical! Each sign stays within a general color range and style in order to maintain its character and uniformity throughout the neighborhood. Each one is cut from MDO board, individually hand painted, and finally sealed with polyurethane.

Each sign measures 24” x 12”. It comes with a painted 3.5” hanging number plate, eye hooks, and chain.

Price: $150.00

Oh yeah! If you live in Fishtown, I’ll hand deliver your sign for free.

Pacific Yoga Install

Here I am with Nicole McLane from Pacific Yoga in Fishtown. She called me one day and left a message, asking me to help her with a sign. It had weathered a bit prematurely and needed a fix soon. Opening night for the Philly Fringe Festival was in ten days and The Howie Hypnotize Show was being performed at her yoga studio.

I quickly went to work cutting out each of the letters by hand with a jig saw. Once that was done I stained all the boards an English Chestnut and finally glued them to a sheet of plexiglass. With a little elbow grease and some muscle from Nicole, we managed to slide out the old sign and putn the new one.

Great news, this was three days before the opening night and I didn’t fall off the ladder at the very last moment.

The light in me sees the light in you, Nicole! Namaste.

One of a kind signs.

Did someone say they needed site specific artwork for the front of their home or office? I make one of a kind fish signs from my Philadelphia studio and would love to hear from you.🐟

Check out www.fishtownsigns.com

Fish Jawn Down the Shore!

I'm incredibly excited to see one of my signs in Philadelphia Magazine! This past month the Jawn Fish made it's way down to Strathmere, NJ to find itself at this beautiful tiny beach house. Click HERE if you’d like a Jawn Sign.

A custom jawn for that tiny jawn!

Jenn Fred Checks out Beach Mini Home

Jenn Fred is with Bridget McMullin, an interior designer and home builder who has a unique take on the tiny home trend.

https://www.fox29.com/video/593171

Tarpon Sign

For this sign the client didn’t want the official Fishtown Shad fish, he wanted a fish that I had never heard of, a tarpon. Keep an eye out and you might catch a glimpse of this beauty.

This fish is found in the Atlantic Ocean and is considered one of the great saltwater game fishes, if lucky, you just might catch a glimpse of it in Fishtown. I bet this Tarpon put up a good fight!

Enjoy this Tarpon Recipe:

You probably don’t want to eat tarpon. This advice is based on sheer practicality. Tarpon is smelly, has far too many bones to be practical, and doesn’t taste particularly better than any other fish. The best way to enjoy it is to poach the crap out of it and then make fish cakes with plenty of spices and aromatics so you don’t really taste the tarpon.

Even then, you’re probably better off just going to the store and picking up some salmon filets. They’ll taste better and are much, much easier to prepare.

Tarpon Fish Cakes Recipe

Ingredients:

about 2 quarts chicken broth or stock

3-4 lbs of cleaned and skinned tarpon fillets

1 onion, finely chopped

1 bell pepper, finely chopped

about 3 pounds of mashed potatoes

4 eggs

2 tablespoons of fancy mustard (deli or dijon)

1 1/2 tablespoons of garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper or cumin

salt and pepper to taste

some oil for frying

This Charming Fishtown Sign

For the Tanenbaum sign we chose colors which would highlight scheme of this newly renovated row home. It really adds an element of charm and is the perfect accent to the home as well as the neighborhood.

This particular sign was hand cut, painted and finished with 3 coats of polyurethane for a unique one of a kind aesthetic.

The bold purple door is accentuated by the contrast of orange in this hanging fish.

Fighting Fish!

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

Starlight Starbright

Here’s the sign I just finished for Starlight Starbright Play & Learn in Fishtown. It’s a two sided Shad with scales that was hand cut and painted by me. Hopefully it’ll be hanging soon and I can take some more photos, I’m sure it’s going to look fantastic.

Here’s a close-up. I tried to make it as colorful as possible yet still blue.

This is the drying station in my studio.

This was taken just before applying the polyurethane and is how the final sign will hang.

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.

Coffee House Too

I really love spare parts robots, especially when they're at one of my favorite coffee shops. I'm also very proud to hang this  rainbow sign, it's not just attractive but it helps make visible, the increasing diversity in Fishtown.

Plus Derek, Josh and crew are always cool as shit!

Check them out @ https://www.coffeehouseco.com/

🤖 🎅 delivering #Fishtown 🌈 #Trout.

it's a cold snowy morning here in Fishtown.

Seeing it for the first time in warm sunlight 

Now That’s a Charming Shad.

For the Tanenbaum sign, we chose colors which would highlight scheme of this newly renovated home. It really adds an element of charm to the home when walking by.

Fishtown Jelly

Here’s the latest sign,complete with a hanging Fishtown Rec Center Jellyfish! It’s been great seeing and hearing the reaction of people passing by, just about everyone smiles and almost every little kid giggles and points.

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.