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Celebrate Boy's Day with a DIY Carp Fish
In Hawai’i, we celebrate Boy’s Day on May 5th. It was a festival that came over with the Japanese immigrants. Families traditionally fly colored carp-shaped streamers from bamboo poles outside their house. One carp fish for each boy in the household. Make this DIY carp fish to hang in your house.
You will need ...
- White Cardstock
- Crepe Paper Streamers (or you could use tissue paper)
- Pencil
- Glue
- Googly Eyes (or you could just use white paper and a black marker)
Step One
Cut the cardstock in half.
Step Two
Draw a line at the top of the paper about 1/2" thick. This is just a guide of where you will overlap the paper when you roll it.
Step Three
Cut the streamers or tissue paper into squares about 1.5". If you use two different colors, you should need about 20-25 squares of each color.
Step Four
Take a bunch of the squares and use the scissors to round off one side. These will be the fish scales.
Step Five
Begin to glue on the first row of scales. I overlapped them a little (about 1/4"). Be sure to hang them over the edge of the paper about halfway.
Step Seven
Then, continue to add on the scales.
I staggered them a little to give it more of an effect. You could put them down in any pattern you choose. Notice that I did not lay any down on that area that I marked off in the beginning.
Step Eight
Next, cut some of the crepe streamers or tissue paper into 1/2" wide strips. I made them about 6" in length.
Step Nine
Glue the streamers to the backside of the paper on the same edge that you folded those first scales onto.
Step Ten
Carefully place a good amount of glue onto that blank strip of the cardstock. Be careful not to rip the crepe paper or tissue paper when applying the glue.
Step Eleven
Fold the cardstock over into a tube. Stick the one edge to the edge with the glue and press. I used some clothespins to keep it together for a few minutes while the glue dried. I also noticed that when I folded it over into a tube, some of the scales flipped up on their ends. So I just gently lay them back down.
For the final touches, I added a strip of white crepe paper to the front end, and I stuck on the eyes. To make it a hanging decoration, I just ran some fishing line through the tube and tied it at the top. And you’re all set with your Boy’s Day carp fish! Happy Boy’s Day!