 |
Nothing
lifts the spirits of a weary traveler quite like the sight of
a fiberglass colossus looming in the distance. Through the shimmering
heat off the blacktop a form begins to take shape. A skyscraping
Abe Lincoln, a Paul Bunyan the size of a small office building,
a life-sized brontosaurus or a fish that could swallow an airliner
-- all have great power to inspire, or at least attract attention.
 |
As any seasoned voyager trekking throughout the heartland of America will tell you, spotting giant Steak House Steers, Cheese Haus Bessies, Liquor Store Pink Elephants, Muffler Shop Gorillas and North Woods Lodge Leaping Stags will garner excited oohs and ahhs. In many communities, opening a business without a fiberglass mascot is the kiss of |
In the course of our travels we have interviewed several business owners about their colossal fiberglass attention-grabbers and learned of a place in Wisconsin -- the Mecca of campy creatures, the motherland of molded monstrosities... F.A.S.T. We set out on a pilgrimage to Sparta, Wisconsin and the giant fiberglass mold field of dreams.
 |
Entering the site, we spied the "mold field" and began to get that need to pee feeling of a kid on Christmas morning. Acres of molds scattered about. Leaping dolphins, dragons, Vikings, religious relics, Yogi and BooBoo bears of all shapes and sizes, waiting outside for a return trip to the shop and a new life drawing attention |
 |
But then attracting attention is what the Fiberglass Animals, Shapes & Trademarks Corporation (F.A.S.T.) is all about. Snooping around the artists’ workshop, and drawn in by the blaring rock music, we met Corey, one of the sculptors, who was shaping a man-sized ornamental frog. |
 |
Corey, a recent graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison with a degree in Fine Arts, had learned of F.A.S.T. through one of her favorite professors. Toward the end of her senior year the professor asked her if she was planning on using her art degree for “serving coffee” or if she was serious about her craft. Knowing that Corey “loved to work with big things,” as she put it, he pointed her in the direction of F.A.S.T. Boy did she find the right place! |
 |
Corey was kind enough to take quite a bit of time to show us her process. It all starts with a drawing. Corey had been provided a rendition of the frog she was sculpting from the client who commissioned the work. Starting off with quick setting polyurethane foam, Corey fashions the design with filet knives, sandpaper and a blow torch. More foam is squeezed out as needed, to fill hollow spots or attach large appendages. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every item that F.A.S.T. produces begins as a hand-sculpted original creation. The biggest behemoths, the |
 |
Once the artist has a finished piece that matches the original concept drawing, it's time to make a mold. Corey pointed us toward the workshop where the fiberglass is applied. Once inside, we met Lupe, a fiberglass technician, as he was putting a safety rail on a frog tongue waterslide. Lupe showed us how the polyurethane figures are coated with a releasing agent before multiple layers of fiberglass are sprayed on. The glass sets in a matter of minutes, creating a mold that’s a perfect negative image of the prototype. The finished mold is then removed from the original polyurethane sculpture. |
Next, releasing agent and fiberglass are applied to the inside of the mold. Lupe explains that once the concoction has set, the mold is opened and gives birth to an exact replica of the original sculpture. The newborn is sent back to the artists for the finishing touches.
 |
The
molds are set out in the field, waiting for another client
to choose them as an attraction. They include a full-sized
nativity scene for $27,000, an eight foot swirl ice cream
cone for $5,000 or one of the seven dwarves for $3,800.
If an original creation is desired, the price goes up accordingly,
sometimes into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. |
 |
Business is good, Lupe tells us that he always has as much work as he can handle, plus overtime, and that in all of his years at F.A.S.T he and his fellow technicians have never been bored. He is especially proud of the prominent places around the world that his works are displayed and loves to hear from family and friends when they spot one. |
 |
Back in the artists’ workshop the sanding and painting begins. Automotive paint and clear-coat are used to bring to life strikingly realistic likenesses or humorous cartoon critters. Corey took us to a second studio where a ginormous moose was nearing completion. Stoic and substantial, we could imagine him standing in front of a hunters’ supply store, an Alaskan jerky factory or, …maybe one of your antler clubs, a Moose lodge perhaps. |
 |
Without a doubt the true master work for F.A.S.T., their magnum opus, is the 145 foot muskie outside of the Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame in Hayward, Wisconsin. Billed as a “walk-thru fish one-half city block long, four and a half stories tall, hand-sculpted into the likeness of a leaping muskellunge” -- this guy does not disappoint. His gaping |
Wanting to get it straight from the fish's mouth, we left Sparta and headed to Hayward that very day. What a beaut. This muskie has to be the biggest “fish story“ ever.
