A Fish Sculpture Without Paying the High Price
As I have mentioned before, sometimes inspiration comes from necessity. But sometimes, it comes from wanting something and not wanting to pay full price for it. 🙂 I am a big fan of all things beachy. When I saw a school of fish, sculpted from metal, I thought it was perfect for our stairwell sidewall. But I wasn’t willing to dish out over $80 for something I will probably want to replace within the next five years. Changing things up really is an obsession for me.
What to Use for Metal Fish Sculptures
If I can’t buy something, I usually try to make it myself. In this case, my mission is to create metal fish sculptures. Thus, the search begins. What metal object could possibly take on the shape of a fish? It must be cheap and readily available. Furthermore, how can I create an entire school of similarly shaped metallic aquatic lovelies?
Using Tea Candles for Metal Fish
I searched through my small stash of doo-dads set aside for rainy day crafts. Pouring a zip bag of items on the counter, produced a bunch of cheap, old, dried-up, crumbly tea candles…Perfect! The aged candle wax was dry and brittle rendering the candles useless. I began digging out the powdery mess inside each candle. I was left with a stack of small, empty, tin, cups. These were ideal. I would make my metal fish sculptures from tea candles.
Forming the Fish Sculpture Shapes
Using tin snips, I cut one slit on the side of the metal cup and two diagonal slits on the opposite end. The soft tin is easily folded and smushed to form perfect little fish shapes! Ever impressive, very much duplicated, fishy of the lamp….or candle.
Adding Sparkle to the Metal Fish Sculptures
Next, I rounded up discarded jewelry. I like to use everything I own and don’t enjoy owning things I don’t use. This often causes an internal conflict. I have things given to me by special people, but I really don’t have a need for them. This is a shallow flaw of mine. I make myself feel better by turning these meaningful unused objects into useful treasures. This is the case with my bag of vintage jewelry. I use this jewelry to create heirloom Christmas ornaments. Now, my acquired sentimental, be it gaudy, jewelry finds a home bedazzling metal fish canvases.
Finishing the Metal Fish Sculptures
I arranged and hot glued shiny jewels, like a blingy jigsaw puzzle, on each metal fish shape. I am thrilled with the results. Each little fish has its own personality. Some are drama queens, some more subdued. My metal fish sculptures were once drab and not glam, but now they shine like a wealthy woman’s neck. 🙂 The best part is I get to remain a little wealthier myself, having saved $80 for mass-manufactured sculptures. I am satisfied with my beautiful assortment of heirloom metal fish sculptures from tea candles. You can easily do the same. Create your own discarded jewelry creations. I’d love to see what you come up with.
Be sure to bookmark this page for more fun projects using things you have around your house. Be my guest at the Sawdust and Cornbread YouTube Channel & see if you found all the Disney Easter eggs in this week’s blog posts. Until next time, stay shiny!
~Lora Lea
