Fish Printing Set-Up

Today I lead the fish printing activity at our local community center. I have six different kinds of rubber fish, six foam brushes, calligraphy ink in six small jars, and inexpensive lightweight paper from "grocery store" sketchpads. Newsprint is best but we had this other paper on hand so I'm using it up.



I practiced this on my kitchen floor and found that it spatters so I am placing each fish in a cardboard box lid -- from the boxes that hold reams of paper.



I also recommend smocks if you have them. Simply dip the foam brush into the ink, spread along the top surface of the fish, place the paper sheet on top, and press the paper onto the fish being sure to get all of the texture. Flip it over and lay it to dry!

I have also seen this done using paint but the ink gets the details of the texture much more nicely.