Gone Fishing

Dave and I have been doing a different type of fishing these days -- even though we live by the water we are sculpting our fish rather than catching them.  Every four years their are larger amounts (in the millions) of salmon returning to spawn in October.  This year is one of those times and so several hundred thousand tourist will be stopping by to see this spectacular event.

This will be our second time participating in the Artisan Market.  We know a little more what to expect this time round so will be better prepared and have already been in high production mode.  We have set aside several days each week where we try to make our "quota" of salmon.  With this plan in action we should be able to have enough made in plenty of time.

Here are some of the salmon ready to attach to various findings to create souvenir items like zipper pulls, key chains and such.

Salute to the Sockeye 2010

Every year in October, thousands of spawning salmon swim up from the Pacific Ocean and make their way inland to Adams River where they lay their eggs.  The Adams River Salmon Society organizes a Salute to the Sockeye at Roderick Haig Brown Park attracting more than 100,000 visitors over a three week period.  There is a gift shop set up in a log cabin in the park where many of the local artists sell their work.  I had the pleasure of being juried in for this year which will be most exciting.

Here is a salmon brooch pin and earrings I made as samples to sell along with my other nature themed pieces.

Something fishy

I've been extremely busy this last week getting ready for our two big shows for the summer.  With father's day around the corner we've been working on some new items for men.  With so many lakes in our area, fishing is a huge sport and so I've been creating pieces with a fish theme.  I found an interesting bead and created a mould from it to make my own pins and pendants.

We've also created a series of textured tube beads to make beaded necklaces and bracelets.  Of course a lot of these beads are great for women as well.  They are a lot of fun to make and I'm working on a tutorial for these that will be published shortly.

Gone Fishing

I finally finished a bunch more Marigold flower lapel pins to sell at the World Masters Indoor Championships.   The city of Kamloops is surrounded with lakes and rivers that are great for boating and fishing.  The most popular and famous fish is the Kamloops Trout.  It is revered around the world by anglers as a great sporting fish.  It is know for its beautiful color as well as its "fighting" nature making them very challenging to catch.  Apparently it can jump more than three times its length straight into the air, sprint as fast as a racehorse and empty a fishing reel of line in seconds.

We made some Kamloops Trout lapel pins to go along with the Marigolds.  I came up with three different styles and we couldn't decide which one we preferred the most and so went with some of each.

Each fish is individually hand sculpted which took a little bit of time at first but once I got a few under my belt I found it a little easier.

My good friend, Joan Tayler, is my mentor in clay.  She is the person that first introduced me to it and  she makes fantastic little animals of all kinds.  I've watched her during her creating process and she makes it look so easy.  Sculpting things doesn't come to me as easily and I find it a bit of a challenge.  Sometimes I surprise myself that the project I'm working on actually turns out somewhat recognizable!

Now I need to finish up the new jewelry pieces I've been working on -- I will hopefully have photos of some to show you by tomorrow.