Bento Fish Jewelry

Allow me to introduce my salty new necklace and earrings.

Made from soy sauce fish!  Have you seen these things?  Inexpensive, adorable tiny bottles.  Most often used for bento box lunches.  Are they not the niftiest?

I bought mine at Seattle's famous Uwajimaya store.  You can find soy sauce fish at specialty food stores, Japanese gift shops or online.  I am quite giddy over these briny gems.

The secret of the blue earrings is madly fun.  With the cap removed, pinch a fish between thumb and forefinger, then dip the opening in paint.  Release the pressure and suck up about a quarter of a fish's worth of color.  Squoosh the paint around to cover the inside completely, and let it dry.


Now the color is sealed inside!  Snip off the neck like so:

The color is up to you.  Any paint should work - I'm agog to experiment some more.  I really want try it with antique gold enamel, glitter paint and, ooh, neon coral!

Converting them into jewelry is easy peasy.  The plastic is so soft, a thumbtack is enough to poke any holes you need.  I made simple wire loops to add pearl 'bubbles,' and attached them to fishhook earwires.

The clear pendant was even simpler.  I poked sideways holes on either side of the mouth, then inserted a big jump ring as a bail to attach the necklace.

Since these fish weigh nothing, I added a heavy crystal bead and some glass pearls to the fishtail for ballast.  I found the prettiest fish clasp to finish it off.

You know you need this cuteness in your life.  So find a Japanese gift shop - seize the carp - and make some jewelry!