Welcome to the fish taxidermy section of Fish Art

We can taxidermy your memorial fish, regardless of species or size,With the best techniques in the industry and respect for the fish, we bring them to life forever.Perfect for store displays, art, or hobby collections!

We specialise in advanced, high quality skin mount fish taxidermy. We can also produce resin based replicas (casts) to any degree of complexity. We also have a unique method for producing skin mounted fish in a two sided presentation (example here ). Fish painting is an art in itself and requires a detailed, accurate and faithful portrayal of the original fish. In most species, this involves hand painting every individual scale at least twice and applying multiple layers of subtle tones to create the natural look of a particular fish.

Few taxidermists in the China have taken the time to develop methods and techniques, in the context of modern materials, which can allow for very high quality results in a skin mount. This may be because it takes many years to develop and learn the techniques necessary to do it well. The comparatively low demand for skin mounts today may render it uneconomic for many to take the necessary time and effort to learn how to do it.

The few taxidermists in the China today who can or will do skin mounted fish provide basically three main options to the client wanting a fish mounted.

1.Traditional style
There are a small number of taxidermists, who still offer the traditional skin mounting techniques, are actually well over 100 years old and have long been superseded. Of course, these techniques are tried and tested,

2.The cast
Secondly, there are some taxidermists who may not have the requisite skills or time to produce a quality skin mounts and instead, offer a replica or cast. In this method a mould is made over the whole fish, usually in silicone rubber. It is then covered in layer fibreglass to support it. Once set, the fish is removed from the mould and, having served its purpose, is disposed of. The mould is then cleaned and resin is layer painted into it, to produce a replica or cast of the original fish. Some casts can be very basic and poorly made they are little more than pouring rubber on the flacid body of a dead fish. Look carefully at previous examples from anyone offering a cast. This is not to denegrate the cast as an option. As with most methods it is about the skill of the operator. Casting some fish is the only option and in a higher quality casts or complex pieces, many mould parts must be made. The fins, mouth, head, and gills may all be moulded separately, requiring considerable technical expertise. The cast is removed from the mould, prepared and painted in the same manner as for the skin mounted fish. Again the painting requires considerable skill. In the strict meaning of the word, a cast fish is not in any way actual “taxidermy” because nothing of the actual fish is used. Making a cast employs just some of the skill sets a fish taxidermist should have but done well they can be superb display items.

3.Modern skin mount fish taxidermy.
There are many methods to skin mount fish, we have developed our own, unique techniques and materials to achieve a finished mount which is solid, stable, grease free and anatomically accurate with minimal shrinkage. A fish mounted using these methods can be presented in a traditional or contemporary manner so, if your preference is still for a more traditional presentation, such as a fully decorated bow fronted case, we will be happy to build a bespoke, bow fronted case for you, though it will not emulate the work of others, be they modern or traditional.

Techniques of skin mounting a fish are as many as they are varied. However, at its most basic, the requirement is that the skin of the fish is completely removed, very thoroughly cleaned, degreased and preserved. The head and fins are removed and dealt with separately. The main body is replaced with a solid rigid artificial body or “form”. The preserved and degreased skin of the fish is then carefully modelled and secured to the form to ensure anatomical accuracy. This is then allowed to dry out for a number of weeks and it loses its entire colour and fades back to a dull grey brown. Once dry; the fins, head and eyes must all be variously attached, modelled, fine sculpted and stabilised ready for final finishing. The entire fish must be completely repainted and toned to restore all the subtle markings and scale detail. The skill of the artist is required along with a detailed knowledge of the fish as a subject. The painting can take many hours of work to complete. It can take over 50 hours to paint just one side of a yellowcheek crap of around 8kg. This is excluding the work to mount the skin and create the presentation for the completed mount. Fish taxidermy, done well, is time consuming and requires many skill sets, the cost is commensurate with the skill and time it takes.

We can take on any aspect of fish taxidermy be it game fish, course or saltwater fish. . The finishing and painting of fish is a highly skilled art, quite apart from the technical side of producing the fish. Our emphasis is on producing fish taxidermy mounts which are faithful to the real live fish, not caricatured representations.A beautiful, ultra-realistic fish taxidermy of a fish is a more accuraterepresentation of the characteristics of the species than a painting ora photograph, and it can even be argued that fish taxidermy as a visualmedium is enough to reduce a drawing to a fish taxidermy’s appendage.We are 100% confident that we can meet these very high standards standards, to the letter, and welcome the opportunity.

We have worked for, and collaborated with, a number of artists and museum on various interesting, unorthodox and challenging projects in recent years. Much of this type work is done confidentially, consequently we are not able to show images or give specific examples. We are happy to explore and discuss any ideas or plans for projects if you care to email us.