Props Construction

Fish prop carved out of foam

  1. Our fish are carved out of white bead styrofoam. Reference materials such as real pictures are a must during construction!
  2. Sand your fish into the desired shape.
  3. Layer your fish with cheesecloth applied with Sculpt or Coat.
  4. Add one or more layer of Sculpt or Coat to fill in the weave.
  5. The top fins of the fish seen here are made with 2" long wire. Poke holes in the area where you would like your fin to be. Dip the endsof the pieces of wire in Sculpt or Coat and put them into the holes that were just made. Let dry.
  6. After pieces of wire dry, cut them and bend them into the direction you want the fins to go.
  7. Apply clear packing tape on both sides of the fins.
  8. Layer the fins with Sculpt or Coat several times. Let dry. OR You may also choose to make the fins by simply cutting the shape of the fin out of posterboard and using hot glue as the "spines".
  9. You can create gill covers by cutting them out of regular posterboard. Cut a diagonal slit in the fish and apply Sculpt or Coat to edge of gill cover and put in slit. After all fins are applied and everything is dry, you may paint your fish to the shade of your choice.
  10. The eyeballs are simply sanded down dowels painted to look like eyes. After paint is dry, the eyes were coated with clear 5-minute epoxy for a really high gloss finish. Our fish is painted with lots of different colors. Some were mixed with Artist's Choice Gold and Silver to get an irredescent effect.

Alternative Method:

Wire Frames - One Technique for Creating props from wire is to shape wire frames and then put fabric embedded with Sculpt or Coat over the frame. This technique is used to create large dinosaurs, fish, insects, dogs, cats, anything you can think of.

. Another variation on the fish
Sculptural Arts Coating, Inc.
P.O. Box 10546 Greensboro, NC 27404
(800) 743-0379 * www.sculpturalarts.com