Hello, during the pandemic extra time time at home provided an opportunity to explore a new hobby while working in the food industry. Starting out with brass screws turning into bugs, then copper into flowers, the thought occured to me. Could I make a fish mount out of copper? I have had the chance to fish many area of North, Central and South America in both fresh and salt water. bottom line is I prefer to be fishing. As i progressed in making better and better wall mounts, another use of my food science background was put to use, the pantina of the copper in different colors using various food products like salt, ketchup, mustard, and more.

The process is fairly simple, but not, first you must catch a fish worth having a copper replica made. That is an experience in itself. When you take picture of your fish, we can estimate the length. (plus one for as we know they always get bigger with time). The picture is used to make a template of the half mount, where it is transposed and hand cut from 99% pure copper. The peices are shaped by hand and hammer, then assembled and sodered. Details are added to make veins of copper in the tail and fins. Once complete the copper is polished and then tapped for the pantina process. The food items are added by brush, dropper, cloth and other means to obtain the desired color and pattern. The half mount is then treated in amonnia to creat the color over a few hours. The difference comes in the preserving the color with many layers of clear coat to make the finished product glisten but not too shinny either. Finally glass eye is added at the end. This unique process has taken years to refine and thus these mounts of works of art and not mass produced stamped out blanks from another country!