Not so serious fish carving.

[steven]

ok now i have to ask do you sell these?
do you have a web site?

[Flipper]

steven, I used to do a lot of fish taxidermy and developed an allergic reaction to fish flesh on my hands. I then switched to reproduction fish and wood carvings. Some of the top fish taxidermists in the country made the switch to fish carving and I jumped in with the rest. I would give them as gifts and sold a few to help support some of my other hobbies. It got to the point I was working all my spare time instead of hunting and fishing. I slowed things down and started playing more! The Queen Trigger was the last competition piece I entered in the World Fish Carving Championships in 2001 and I have not done a lot of carving since.

As far as a Website the answer is no, I found out you can get swamped and way behind in a hurry. It just takes a lot of hours to do a carving.

[steven]

Well all I can say is YOU have a gift!!!
you have some great work there.
I am very impressed with your work.
thanks for the info.
Steve Fiorio

[Dave T]

hey Flipper, i was reading your replies, and noticed you mentioned you developed an allergic reaction to fish flesh on your hands. was wondering if you could elaborate on that, because i have had problems the last few years handling fish, and wondered if it may be the same as what you are experiencing..

thanks

Dave

[Flipper]

Dave, the skin on my fingertips gets very dry and starts to peal and it feels like I have thistle needles in them when I touch something. I talked to other taxidermists at the world shows that had the same problem. I tried wearing gloves and that was tough trying to skin a fish. Or, with latex gloves a bone would poke a hole and you would have the same problem. It's always catch and release for me on everything unless someone else is cleaning the walleye or bluegill.

[Dave T]

Flipper, thats a little different then what i experience. my fingers will get bumps on them, then the skin will dry up and peel off... doesnt really hurt, but is annoying.. basically kills all the skin, weird... went to a dermatologist, and he said it was from the water???

thanks for the reply

Dave

[Flipper]

It sounds the same, my nerves only got tender a couple times when I kept working on fish but the rest of the time it is the way you explaned it. Like it kills the first layer of skin.

Jeff