Guest Blogger - IGMA Artisan Sherri MacRaild of Calgary, Alberta

It has been my pleasure and honour to know Sherri for several years now. She is an IGMA Artisan who has been a dealer at the Edmonton Show and Sale during that time. We've been in touch more often now during COVID-19.

We spoke of her most recent creation lately and she gave me permission to post this with her as my guest blogger based on her emails. I hope you enjoy it..

Have worked on this project on and off for years….started with the tub and then got stalled with what to use for the bears I wanted.   Bought a bunch of jointed bears but they would not comply with the positions needed in this very small container.   The tub is in 1/12” scale and is supposed to be a wash-day tub.   

Here is the story that goes with it……

                “It  is in the year 1798 and the British navy has been fighting the French under Napoleon.   Our story starts when a ship in the British navy  has a run-in with the French and British ship is sunk in the action.   Even the life boats are destroyed.   All that is left is the cook’s giant fish-holding tub.  Only 4 crew survive the battle and they have to pile into that tub at the last moment.    But it smells very badly!   The captain usually goes down with the ship but he knows that the lieutenant  (left-tenant as it is pronounced by the British)  is an idiot who was able to be placed in his position only because his uncle is in the House of Lords).  Thus the Captain felt it was his duty to save what was left of his crew.   I mean, the lieutenant has been looking at that compass for an hour now and still has no clue where they are!   The captain is forced to scan the horizon with his spyglass, looking for anything that will help them out of their predicament.   No smiles there.   But the sailor with the hat is smiling a lot because he is the one holding the only life preserver.   Yesssss!  The other sailor was on the gun crew and didn’t have time to grab his regular hat before abandoning the sinking ship.    So he is still wearing the bandana meant to hold back his fur while he was re-loading Cannon #3.”

I managed to put the captain into the ‘tub’ as the first bear to go in, although he squirmed a lot before finally settling down.   The lieutenant was even harder to get into the tub.   He kept insisting that I show ‘his good side’ before he would consent to be glued down.  How vain can you get?! Then the other 2 sailors rebelled saying that they wouldn’t go into that evil-smelling tub unless they were able to have their daily rum ration.  They had the nerve to demand the ‘emergency’ barrel of the stuff (plus the drinking cup, mind you!).   That meant a lot of research on my part, all the while muttering about stubborn sailors specifically….and males in general.   Found out that there was indeed an emergency barrel which, to my surprise, was sideways rather than straight up and down and it comes with a funnel.   Hmmm, learn something new every day!   These self-same sailors then threatened mutiny unless I made sure there was an anchor in the tub.   What?!  An anchor??  I finally figured out that they were thinking they might float by an island (on which there might be much more rum than was being rationed out in the tub…and even girls!).   They wanted to make sure the tub stayed in place while they swam to shore for ‘just a short visit’, the rascals!  

You have heard how a project can take on a life of its own….well, this one did, and in spades!   I am exhausted after keeping up with the crew’s demands on the HMS Fishtub.

Personally, I think it's one of the absolutely best things I have ever seen of Sherri's work. The painting on the tub alone is just superb. And her story and research make it even better.