During this month, I am going to write a series of Chinese New Year posts from making lanterns, zodiac, Feng Shui to Chinese culture. This is my first blog post of my Chinese New Year series. Look out for the rest of the posts! Today, I am going to use Ang Pow (red packets) to make a Fish Lantern. So what is an Ang Pow? It is a red envelope/packet that contain a monetary gift which is given during Chinese New Year or special occasions like weddings or birthdays etc. They are called Hong Bao (红包) in Mandarin or Ang Pow/Bao in Singapore Hokkien or Lai See in Cantonese. Click here to read more about it.
You need:
- 6 Ang Pow
- Scissors
- String
- Stapler
Part 1: Making the Fish Tail – Use 3 Ang Pow
Fold the Ang Pow in half (shown on the left picture), fold one corner (middle) and then fold in half again (right).
Repeat the same on the other side, like an aeroplane. Now fold the other two Ang Pow in the same way.
Now to join them altogether, use the stapler to staple as show on the picture. This will be the fish tail.
Part 2: Make the Fish Body – Use 3 Ang Pow
Fold the Ang Pow half (shown on the left picture). Then fold all four corners but leave a gap on the side. This will be the mouth of the fish. Repeat the same with the other two Ang Pow.
Now staple all three Ang Pow corners (the one with the gap) together as shown.
Push it inside out and you can see the opening of the fish mouth.
Cut out 4 (any) corners to use to make the fish fin.
Part 3: Connect the fish to it tail
For orientation: I used the Minnie Mouse Ang Pow for my left side of the side, the Snoopy is on the right and Doraemon (blue cat) is on the bottom.
Staple the Minnie Mouse to the one side of the tail, follow by Snoopy on the other side of the tail. You can see how it looks like on the bottom view after the tail is stapled.
Part 4: Put up the Fish Fin
Insert two triangle corners together and staple it on the top of the fish.
Next insert one triangle corner to the left side of the fish and repeat the same for the right side. You can see it quite clearly on the top view of the fish.
Part 5: Finishing touch
Lastly, make a loop and staple it on the top side of the fish. Open up the tail to complete the fish! Now you can hang it up!
Hope you like this beautiful fish!