Paper Mache Fish - Step 3 - Attaching Front to Back

In this step, I'm attaching the front pieces of the fish body and tail to the back pieces of the fish body and tail.  I've been lax in posting this because I realized my fish has a design flaw, and I'm worried I won't be able to compensate for it.  You see, I should have made the body and tail as one piece - i.e., body/tail front, body/tail back.  By making the tail separately from the body, I'm most likely making the area that connects the body to the tail a weak point.  I've come up with a few ideas for  remedying this situation, but if you're just reading and contemplating making a fish, do what I didn't do and connect the tail to the body right from the start.

So to begin this step, I assembled my basic pieces - I also used a few very large rubber bands and a small cardboard box to aid in the assembly that are not pictured here - you'll see how I use them later on.

First, trim the rough edges so they more closely resemble the shape you want.  This is not a precise operation, you just want to make sure they will fit together as nicely as possible.  Do this for both the tail pieces and the body pieces (or, if you are the type that reads directions BEFORE assembly, you will have just one front piece and one back piece - hurray for you, you overachiever!)

This is where my extra large rubber band came in SO handy...  you don't want your two pieces slipping and sliding around after you begin putting the gluey paper mache strips on them...  that would be a great, big YIKES.

 I put a wadded paper napkin in between the two pieces where I wanted there to be some separation - in this case, where the tail will attach to the fish.  You can use the same idea in any location where the pieces aren't laying flush with each other, or if you need to elevate a section.  

Now, begin adding connecting strips of paper mache around the edges...

Make them as smooth as you can to avoid fixing the bumps later on.

I worked for as long as possible with the rubber band on - it helped to keep everything in place.

I kept this end open so that I could slide this over one end of the fish, but as you know, on any future fish, I would make it all one piece...

Walla.....  time to dry.

For the fish body, after trimming excess paper off the edge, I bent the wires around the edges to attach the front to the back.   I added this craft wire with another layer of paper mache after the first layer had dried.  I'm not really sure this was necessary, but what the heck.

This time I found an appropriately sized box that I could stand my fish in while I was working on it.  I didn't have a rubber band large enough for this piece.

It was a little difficult to get the wire bent extremely flat, but I think it will still help make it stronger in the end.


Next stage of fish production:  attaching the tail to the body.

Paper Maché Fish - Step 1 - Armature

I haven't quite worked out my plan for fame and fortune, but I've decided that in the meantime, I'm going to make paper maché fish and sell them on Etsy.  I should be able to afford my own chef and a personal secretary after a few sales.  Pretty soon Sotheby's will be calling, asking me to do a retrospective of my paper mache, and I'll have to deliberate carefully, because I don't want to undersell talents.  

HAHA!!

Seriously, though, I've been taking a lot of heat from a couple of my friends for this.

  "You're making a what?"  

"That's so time consuming,"  

"Enough with the paper maché" 

My paper maché fish is going to bite both of their asses in my defense when I'm done.  

Anyway, I thought a fish would present a nice do-able shape, with a bit of a challenge, but not so much of a challenge that I wad it up and throw it out before I'm finished.   I checked out paper maché fish online, and there ARE a few on Etsy.com, but not so many that it you could make the case that everyone's making them, so I'm going to give it a try. 

The first step in this process is to create the armature.  

I always seem to get the best results when covering a balloon, but unfortunately, I couldn't find a balloon that would suit this purpose.  I needed an oval shaped balloon that was somewhat flat.  I thought of getting a helium balloon from a party store, but they're not made of the same rubbery stuff as conventional balloons, and I just know they won't dry nicely.  Plus, I'd still need to add something to each end to make the round balloon oval shaped, so I gave up on that idea.  

I decided to give wire (my new best friend) a try.    

I had a nice hunk of wire left over from gardening last year so I cut a rectangle about 2 ft. by 4 feet.  

...then I cut that piece in half so that I had two pieces that were pretty much square.

Then I outlined the shape I wanted on the square of wire using some thin strips of duct tape.

I used a twist tie to hold the two pieces together and then I copied the same outline using more duct tape onto the second square of wire.  You want two sides to your fish, and you want 'em to the same size!

Then I snipped all the edges that were sticking out, leaving enough wire to fold each end under.  I didn't want to get scraped to smithereens later on.

Next, I curved the wire to allow my fish to have some dimension...  he's going to be somewhere between a fluke and a blow fish in thickness.

Next, I checked to make sure my two sides would go together.  

Not bad. 

Now, I needed to fill in those giant holes so that my wet paper towels would not sink into them while drying.  I had a spool of thin wire on hand, so I wrapped it across the open areas.  If I had to do it again, I would go with my nemesis from my planet project, chicken wire.  I didn't feel like spending 25.00 on a roll of chicken wire for just this one fish, but chicken wire has smaller, more consistent holes, and even though it can cut you to ribbons, it's easier to mold into the shape you want.  

   

Next I wrapped each form with a piece of dry paper toweling.  I just scotch taped the toweling over the edges.  If I had just started covering the form with wet, sticky pieces, I might not have been able to remove them from the form later on.  Plus, it would most likely have dripped all over the place.  YUCK.  Paper maché is messy as it is - I want to keep the mess to a minimum.  

Next post:  covering the armature and making the tail.