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Have
you seen those wire fish on the walls of film settings
or in magazines? We have, and liked them too, but a
trip around the stores didn't show any for sale so we
set to work and made one. You can have a wire fish on
your wall for a couple of shillings and a few hours'
work if you follow these instructions.
Materials
needed are a flat piece of board large enough to take
the design, a few dozen 2 inch nails, a small hammer,
soldering iron, solder, 12-gauge wire, sandpaper,
black paint and a brush.
First
choose your design or copy the one drawn to scale
here, then trace the fish on to the board, but don't
get too detailed. Too many joints will weaken the
finished piece.
Drive
nails firmly into the board along all lines as shown
in the illustration. Space about 1½ inches apart
except on sharp curves where you will find it much
easier to bend the wire to shape if the nails are
closely spaced.
 Start
at the mouth and bend the wire around the outside of
the nails and back to the starting point. Be sure that
the wire is firm and smoothly round with no buckles or
bends. If necessary, drive in extra nails close to the
wire on opposite side of the line to hold securely in
position. Clean the ends of the wire with steel wool
and coat with paste flux which can be bought at any
hardware store. To make a joint, hold the solder
against the soldering iron until it melts, than let
the molten solder flow from the iron until it fills
the joint completely.
When
all joints are soldered, suspend the fish with a
strong thread and paint with flat black on both sides.
Dry and paint again in 24 hours. Plug the wall and
screw in the fish through the eye.
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