Local man wants to share his hobby

Ken Johnston

You have probably seen him around Rainy River and if you have not then you have likely seen his work hanging on the walls at the Border Gasthaus restaurant in Rainy River.
Lee Dillman kind of fell into his unique hobby by chance. Having guided since the 1950s he had some trophy fish he wanted mounted. Visiting renowned taxidermist John Lind at Lake of the Woods Taxidermy, he became interested in both mounting fish and hand carving them. “Lind asked me to help him. He gave me all the dirty jobs like working on fish that had been ruined in one way or another,” explained Dillman. That was 10 or 12 years ago.
Now he has two and three dimensional hand carved fish all over North America. “I have fish near the arctic circle and in California,” said Dillman.
He said that the hobby is easy enough for people to learn and that most of the stuff he uses to do the carving is found around the house every day. After getting the measurements and often a photo of the fish he is going to carve he begins with a piece of styrofoam. There is a commercial kind available for this artwork, however Dillman said that people can use styrofoam found in some packing of appliances.
He uses drywall plaster to build the fish out, yet another common item easily found and affordable.
Unlike some artists, Dillman does not use airbrushes, even though he has them, to make his carving come alive. “I do everything by hand, including the painting.”
Using mostly acrylic paints he uses a technique that he calls tinting; placing a base colour on and another where necessary. He then hand paints the different colours of the real fish onto the carving.
Dillman has also gone to great lengths to make his own fish eyes from marbles and using paint. “I try to make the eyes look as real as possible.”
A modest Dillman said that his work is no where near the level of the world’s best, whose fish fetch thousands of dollars. However, he said he is about middle of the road and he is still learning and improving.
He said an average fish takes about 30 hours to complete. He said he has done enough walleyes that they are fairly simple. He has also done ocean fish as well as many northern pikes, muskies and other common freshwater fish.
He is interested in teaching others how to do this hobby and last week held a workshop, free of charge at the Gasthaus. Unfortunately the turn out was poor, but Dillman would be willing to get together with interested people. He feels anyone can learn and that it is a very affordable hobby. Anyone interested can call him at 852-1417.
He does do skin mounts (of the real fish) but finds the carving to be more challenging. He does not do it to make a living, he does it for the pleasure it brings him and others.