Jaws fan creates incredible handmade Orca in a bottle

Needing a bigger boat isn’t always the case. Especially for devout Jaws fan dentist Mike Foley who got his proportions correct by crafting a handmade miniature of Quint’s boat the Orca to be placed In to a beautiful glass bottle. Here Mike shares how his process exclusively with The Daily Jaws.

Mike: The ships hull was made from scrap wood. The rough shape was achieved using a Dremel tool spinning a small sanding drum. Reference photos for the ships design are easy to find on websites/blogs like The Daily Jaws.

Once the general shape of the hull was determined the ships cabin, crows-nest and deck was carved from more scrap wood and popsicle sticks. A high quality wood glue holds everything together.

The yellow barrels were made from kebab skewers cut in to short lengths. Rigging was made from twine that was unraveled to get a thinner strand. The ocean 🌊 was fabricated using sculpting clay that can be hardened in an oven (275 degrees for 30 minutes).

The hull is pressed in to the clay prior to baking to make sure a nice seating area exists for glue later in the project. Once all the components are test fitted they are painted using acrylic paints. Final assembly was done in 4 steps.

1. The hull was glued to the “ocean”

2. The tower was glued to the back of the cabin then finally

3. The rooftop deck was glued in place.

4. Tacking the rigging down was the final step achieved with tweezers.

An “Orca” would be incomplete without a shark to chase so a small dorsal fin was added to keep the crew company. I’m bringing the boat in to my dental office today to show my patients. Building ships in bottles is easier and more relaxing than doing dentistry. Total cost of the project about $10.

Words and photos by Dr Mike Foley

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