This fish is made of old newspapers and a few embellishments I had lying around the house. This is a simple and fun craft to make with children or just for the fun of recycling some old newspapers into your own art piece. I placed several sheets of newspaper on the table to prepare my work area. In a medium container, I made the standard paper mache paste made of flour and water (2 parts flour to one part water–until you get a pancake batter consistency) and added a dash of salt as a preservative. I then tore up several sheets of newspaper into medium sized pieces.

I made the fish core by crumpling some sheets of newspaper (using my hands) and forming them into the fish shape (as close as possible). I then started to dip the torn pieces into the paste mixture and started applying them onto the crumpled sheets to form the shape. At this point you can start shaping your fish to your preferred style. Once the fish shape dried, I used acrylic craft paints to paint the fish. The tail is made from a scrap piece of interfacing that I cut with my pinking shears and scissors, made a slit on the fish tail end and then slid the interface tail piece (with a little glue) into the fish tail end.

I glued on a half round marble for each eye and used fabric paint to draw around the eyes and mouth. I actually made four fish and painted them all in pretty bright colors, but I gave them all away and didn’t photograph them except for this one. Once you get started, it’s a simple and fun project to make. This makes a very lightweight piece which could also be hung with thread or you can make several smaller pieces and hang them as a mobile in a child’s room.

Paper Mache Fish