Fish & Fly - Autumn 2001
After bandsawing a block of basswood into the shape of a trophy gamefish, talented ELLEN MCCALEB uses her grandfather's drawknife as well as rasps and chisels to shape her carving. Fine carving and sanding around the fish's mouth, eye, tail, and gill plate follow. After clear sealing, Ellen uses artists' oils and brushes to apply seven coats of traditional oil paints to build depth and color. She then varnishes the creation with either a semi-gloss or rich antique finish that makes the piece look as if it has hung in a smoked-filled library for 50 years.
World-class carver and Fish & Fly subscriber ELLEN MCCALEB moved recently from Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, to Center Strafford, New Hampshire. She set up her woodworking tools in and old post-and-beam barn adjoining her new home, which she describes as a real fixer-upper. "I now have a trout stream in my backyard," McCaleb said. "Unfortunately, I think the fish are very well educated." She began carving as a hobby while employed as the manager of investor relations for a venture capital firm. Fearing corporate homogenization, she decided she needed to pursue a living doing something inspiring. " I knew of two things that inspired me - fish, and working with my hands," said Ellen. So she bought some basic carving tools and a bandsaw. Each night home from the office, she worked madly, transforming blocks of basswood into shining replicas of fish that caught her fancy - first a brook trout, then a brown, then a Yellowstone cutthroat. Today, visitors to her shop in rural New England are apt to find her conjuring up everything from summer-run steelhead (shown) to Atlantic salmon to Mongolian taimen. "Each piece is highly personal - my hope is that every time an angler looks at it, he's transported to a special time and place," the artist mused. "Most of the fish I carve were released and, I like to think, swimming happily."