photo by Steve Batiloro
| I came accross some silver holographic reflective plastic at the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse a few years ago. I liked it so much that I decided to make a giant fish. I didn't have time or space for making the fish until recently because I have spent a lot of the past year unemployed, and I am now using a garage for a studio space rather than a small bedroom. |
|
As usual, rather than simply having a large fish, I wanted one that was at least slightly jointed. I began with a skeleton made out of cardboard and foam. I made the fins with iridesent fabric supported with clear plastic. I ran into the difficulty of gluing plastic/polyester fabric to clear acrylic plastic and not wanting the glue to show. I used a really smelly plastic glue, which worked ok, but is still not idea. I made a skin with stretchy fabric cut to fit over the skeleton and then glued on the plastic scales (that I cut out individually by hand).
The head is foam, with cardboard to make a joint in the jaw, covered with paper mache, with paper cone teeth. I glued more scales on the head once I placed the skin on the body. The eyes are made using old discarded plastic eye-glasses lenses (also from the EB Depot) which had a great effect. |
tnt |
| I had the excuse of having an exhibit at the Museo ItaloAmericano as a prize for winning 2nd place at a chalk art contest in SF to get the giant fish finished under a deadline. It was up for one month during the exhibit. |