1. Roll out a large sheet of
Delight to 1/8" thick on plastic wrap and cover ONE egg. Smooth any
bumps with finger. Form a half circle with Delight. Break a toothpick in
half, dip one piece into tacky glue and press it halfway into the fat
end of the egg. Apply glue to the to the end of the toothpick that is
showing and press the round side of the clay half circle onto toothpick
to secure it to the body for the tail. Add scales to the fish's body
with the marker pen lid holding it at an angle to form half circles.
Press the bottom end of the marker into the eye areas on fish.
2. Sand and taper the fat end of the remaining 2 eggs as shown, using
the flat side edge of a scrap of STYROFOAM. One egg may be slimmer then
the other for variation.
3. Follow step 1 to cover and add scales to both of the eggs, although
press some of the clay sheet towards the smaller egg end and form lips.
Create the line in the lips with a toothpick as a tool. For the tails,
shape Delight clay as shown, one like a half moon, and the other like a
triangle with a "v" shaped notch cut out. Secure tails as in step one.
Add lines to the "V" shaped fish tail with toothpick. Cut the dowel into
three pieces, one 8" long, one 6" and one 5" long. Press a dowel into
the bottom of a fish about 1" in, then remove.
4. Cut a 10" x 3" approx curved base as shown. Draw pattern with a
marker and cut with a serrated knife (or a STYROFOAM cutter hot wire
tool). Using the side edge of a scrap of STYROFOAM, sand the top cut
edges and corners of base so they are domed and round slightly. Roll out
a large sheet of Delight to 1/8" thick on plastic wrap and cover the
surface and side edges of the base. Smooth any bumps with finger.
5. Bend one end of wire into a spiral with needle nose pliers. Bend the
straight end up to hold tool, and press randomly over base clay to
texture. Mark and press the dowels into the base, spaced evenly, with
the tallest in the center and allow the Delight to dry overnight or
longer. The clay will have a little give but will feel dry and very
lightweight when ready to paint.
Refer to the finished
project for the remaining steps:
6. Insert dowels into fish.
Paint the clay base turquoise, one fish with a 1 part lime + 1 part
turquoise mixture, one fish yellow and one fish lime green. When dry,
"dry-brush" each with two more colors by dipping the brush into paint,
tapping off most of paint onto a paper towel, and brushing it lightly
over the surface. Use aqua and periwinkle over the teal fish, orange (2
parts yellow + 1 part red) and red over the yellow fish, and yellow and
a mix of 2 parts yellow + 1 part lime over the lime fish, and aqua over
the clay base. Let dry.
7. Paint the eyes on the lime fish turquoise and dry-brush with a little
off white in the center. Paint the orange fish's eye yellow and
dry-brush with a little yellow + lime mix, and the teal fish's eye gray
(white with a touch of black mixed) and dry-brush off white. Dip the
handle of the large flat brush in black paint and dot on the eye pupils.
Paint the dowels black and let dry. Secure dowels in place with tacky
glue and let dry. Spray the entire assembled project with sealer and let
dry as directed. You may glue a curved shape of felt to the bottom of
the base to protect fine furniture if desired.