Scavenger Chic

Junk Fish

• By Joan
• October 12, 2017
• 5 Comments

I’ve made several junk angels but this is the first time I’ve tackled a fish.

I’m pretty sure this fish has no basis in reality, but that doesn’t stop me from having some fun.

From your junk pile,  pull out anything you think would make good fish parts.  They may or may not work later, but you’ll be surprised how fast your fishy will start to take shape.

How big your junk is, will also determine how big your fish will end up being.

I really liked my shovel handle for a tail and the knob eye. Every fish needs a nice bulging eye.

Over to the scrap wood pile where I drew a nice fish shape that could hold all my junky treasures. Didn’t need to add a tail, just a little nub to hold my handle.

Cut out with a Jig Saw  or scroll saw.

Painting should be super quick because you want to do it all before the paint dries.

I’m just using cheap acrylic paints available in any craft store.   Paint the top half green.

While the green is still damp, clean your brush and paint the bottom third white.

Between the two, add a line of yellow and blend with your brush.

I also added a dry brush of white to the top of the fish.  Dry brushing is when you add paint to your brush but get rid of most of the color on another piece of paper before lightly painting.

After the other colors are dry, paint the nose black.

You can age your fish with a sander and vintage wax or leave him alone. 

Whether you choose to sand the entire fish is up to you but I would still sand down the cut wood edges.

Time to start decorating…it would be fun to do an entire fish with spoon scales but for this project I only had 6.  These are just cheap stainless spoons, the cheaper the better for this project because those are easier to cut and to pound flat.

I’m using a grinder to cut off the spoons but I could also use my little Dremel with a cutting tool.

This is the pounding flat part.  These spoons not only make great fish scales but they also make some nice looking angel wings.

The shovel handle  (is it a shovel handle??) was attached with a screw through his little nubby tail.

Wherever possible, use screws to hold everything together.

The rusty pieces, were all found in the woods though I’m not really sure what they are.  The yellow knobs were in a thrift store bag.

The upper fins are some of the cut off spoon handles.  For those, I drilled a hole, added Gorilla Clear Glue  and stuck in my spoons.

I used a little bottle opener for his lower fin.

Time to search thru your junk piles.  There may be a fish hiding in there.

Stay inspired, have a great weekend.

Shared at DIY Salvaged Junk Projects,

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