nip and tuck

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I took hold of my electric recipcoal saw, the one with the longest blade. The blade for wood not the blade for metal. I laid it right at the spot where her lips met her face. Then I began cutting, following the out line of her lips. It was a clean cut and the lips came off intact. I laid Tonya's lips by the side of the road for the trash collector to pick up on Monday.

Scott, a newbie at this years Mystic Fish celebration was floored to learn that Stacey and I spent about 40 hours collectively sculpting and painting a fish float for our annual Mardi Gras Parade. He was not floored because of the time we put in, he was floored to learn we cut it to pieces and started over the next year.

We started on the fish Jan 29th. We finished on Feb. 12th. I cut the lips off Wednesday Feb. 17th. The tail had already broken off. Without the huge lips and no tail she fit nicely in the float barn. Next year we will build a new fish off the base of this fish since it is very sturdy and can be made to look really different from the 2010 fish.

We have done it this way for going on twenty years. Some Mobile Mystic orginazations have been doing this for around 150 years now and they have really big floats. That's a huge part of the fun, building a new fish every year.