how to make a fish print

You can read all about our gyotaku experience on my geocaching blog. As I state over there, fish prints can  elevate the typical day of fishing to artwork. Here, I describe the how-to. It doesn't smell, by the way.


0.5 Have a covered work surface. 
1. clean fish of mucus (funny word, isn't it?). a bucket of water will work.

2. dry fish with paper towel.

3. if the fish is not very flat, support any parts underneath with clay. reserve this clay for fish only.
4. pin fins with straight pins into the supporting clay
5. cut a card into a circle to place over the fish's eye

6. apply small amount of tempera paint to fish, but leave an eye circle. work quickly before the paint dries (funny that blogger rotated this picture for me THE RIGHT WAY)
7. put the eyecard in place.
8. put Japanese (calligraphy or wall) paper over the fish

9. press gently over the entire fish
10. lift paper up.
11. remove the eyecard.

12. using a black marker, draw a "C" in the eye circle.

 

That's it! Large-scaled fish work best, from the store or fresh-caught. We used thawed fish that had been frozen three days beforehand.