Introducing Nimo, my eighth Christmas tree decoration. She is part of my pinecone craft series in Japanese style. Of which, I’d share the basic techniques of Chirimen Zaiku (ちりめん細工/Crepe Handicrafts) that I am learning from books. Okay, here is how I make my chirimen pinecone goldfish. Step by step, here we go!

Painting the Pinecone

My pinecones were baked before I used them for crafts. Here is how I baked my pinecones. I wanted the colors to be vibrant in this project, so I used yellow acrylic as a base paint. Once it was completely dry, I added the red acrylic. Since I was going to cover up the base of the pinecone, I left it unpainted.

Getting the Eyes Ready

While waiting for the acrylic paint on the pinecone to dry completely, I started to work on my goldfish’s eyes. (1) I used two small round cardboard and white chirimen scrapes (later cut into circular shapes).

(2) I glued a small amount of batting onto the round cardboard. Then, I placed the side with batting to face the wrong side of the crepe fabric. I glued the fabric onto the back of the cardboard. This would give me a rounded, cushioned white part of the eyes. I repeat the steps for the other eye.

(3) I used black felt fabric to cut two not-so-perfect (:P) circles and glued it onto the white parts. (4) I actually made a mistake here in part four. I intended to have bulging eyes for Nimo. However, I cut the fabric too small, so the eyes were almost the same size as the bulging part. Bad estimation! So, Nimo became a Bubble Eye Goldfish instead. LOL!

The main part of the goldfish

(1) Now that the pinecone is colored and dried, I wrapped the base with my leftover Christmasy felt fabric (9 x 9 cm), with a few layers of batting in between to give it a rounded look. (2) I drew a pattern like this for the tail on a 12 x 8 cm chirimen fabric. (3) Then I folded the fabric into halves and cut the pattern out accordingly. (4) Then, I placed the right sides of the fabric touching each other and sewed along the seam line on the wrong side.

(5) I inverted it right side out, through the opening. I added another stitching line (see picture) and gave it a light pull to give the tail a little curling effect. (6) I tied a few of the top scales together in order to fit and glue the tail onto the pinecone.

The mouth of the goldfish

1. I used a 3 x 7 cm fabric for the mouth. I folded it into halves. (2) I joined the ends of the fabric into a ring, and I sewed the raw edges with a running stitch. In the end, I gave the thread a pull and the raw edges gathered together. (3) Then, I added glue it onto the pinecone.

Adding the fins

For the fins, I used a pentagon pattern. It doesn’t have to be perfect or accurate. I folded it into halves and sewed along the wrong sides. Then, I inverted them right side out and glued them onto the pinecone.

Finishing Touches

I added a string and a bell.

And to complete it, I added stripes of 5-cm gold-glittering ribbons and glued them in between the pinecone scales (only on the top of the fish and not on the belly). DONE!

 

Nimo, My Little Goldfish