Handmade Fishing Floats, Beautifully Displayed — An Ivybridge Collaboration

A Devon collaboration between two Ivybridge makers — Ian Lewis of Handmade Fishing Floats & us here at Moon Groves.

Two makers, one town

Some collaborations just make sense. Ian Lewis of Handmade Fishing Floats hand-crafts traditional fishing floats right here in Ivybridge, Devon — shaping cork, balsa, sarkanda reed & bamboo with time-honoured techniques into floats that are as lovely to look at as they are to fish with. We're just up the road in the same town, working wood & slate with a high-power CO₂ laser. When two Ivybridge workshops care this much about doing things by hand, joining forces was the natural next step.

Floats too good to hide in a tackle box

Anyone who has handled one of Ian's floats knows the dilemma: they are beautiful objects in their own right. An Avon trotting float, a cork pike float, a delicate set of crucian bristle tips — each is a small piece of craftsmanship. Plenty of anglers want to keep a favourite on display, or turn a retirement or milestone float into something to treasure, rather than leave it buried in a bag. That's where we came in.

The display plaque & engraved boxes

We designed & made a bespoke handmade fishing float display plaque — solid timber, laser engraved in our Ivybridge workshop & built to show a float (or a prize catch) off properly. Alongside it we engraved a run of presentation boxes, giving each handmade float the kind of presentation a piece like that deserves: ideal for a gift, a club presentation or marking a special catch.

A perfect pairing for any angler

The two go hand in hand. Pick a float from Ian's ever-changing river or lake ranges & let us frame or box it as a keepsake. It makes a genuinely original gift for the angler who has everything — a Father's Day, retirement, wedding or birthday present with real craft & a story behind it. For floats you'd rather fish than frame, Ian even makes his own lovely bamboo storage tubes.

Backing local, handmade craft

Both workshops are built on the same belief: that something made by hand, from natural materials, by someone who genuinely cares, beats mass production every time. Ian's floats use natural, biodegradable materials & traditional methods; our engraving is done on sustainably sourced timber & slate. Buy from either of us & you're supporting small-batch, made-in-Devon craftsmanship.

Browse Ian's floats at handmadefishingfloats.co.uk, & explore our display plaques & custom engraving service here at Moon Groves.

✅ Every Moon Groves piece comes with a free digital proof via WhatsApp before we cut — 100% satisfaction guaranteed.