Roger versus Fish

Every man has a story about a big fish. Usually, it's about a fish that got away. When Roger wanted to tell me a story about a fish, I was a little bit confused. I know Roger can't tell a lie if his life depends on it, so I was wondering what kind of tale was about to roll out of his mouth. Well, it turns out the story is about pottery - a particular piece of pottery, in fact.

Somewhere around December, 2009, Roger decided it was time to tackle one of those projects that either becomes an epic accomplishment, or an epic catastrophe. He wanted to make something big - really big. He had been doing some work with fish, and he thought he might want to make something along those lines, but what to do? He had already made some large fish. He didn't want to just make a larger version of those. People had already seen fish, for Pete's sake. That's when he got a very big idea. What about an alligator gar?

What's an alligator gar, you ask? Glad you asked. I had to look them up myself, not being into fishing at all. Turns out, it's this massive fish with horrible, sharp shark-like teeth that feeds on water fowl. Yeah, you heard me. It's a fish that eats ducks. Seriously. I don't think I NEEDED to know that this even exists. Not only do they exist, but right here in the US...and in Mexico. Remind me never to swim again. These "fish" get over six feet long and weigh over 100 pounds at full size. The largest recorded size was almost 8 1/2 feet long and over 350 pounds. So, I'm leaving the US, just in case. My next blog will be from someplace in the Caribbean, where at least I can see what is about to snack on my leg...

Anyway, back to the pottery...

Roger began work on the "fish" which took about a month to complete. In fact, he spent the better part of a week JUST CREATING THE SCALES. Think about that for minute. I get bored after 20 minutes of the same cardio, but this man spent a solid week doing nothing but making fish scales!

When he finished the piece, it was too big to even go in his kiln. So he loaded it up and drove it to Michael Crocker's place to be fired - THREE DIFFERENT TIMES. (Potters have to be either the most patient people on earth or they're just plain crazy. Maybe both, but don't we love them??)

The result - one REALLY BIG, REALLY COOL, REALLY MEAN looking fish!! Here are some photos of the building process. By the way, this piece is currently available. Email us @ rogercorn.pottery@gmail.com for more details!