Duct Tape Sushi

The near to Holy Grail of white trashdom has arrived! Duct Tape Sushi! (I'll put duct tape bento up later.) I know everyone is dying to know how to make it so, without further ado, let's get to it!

Step 1:

Supplies

Duct Tape in black, green, red, yellow & white (at the minimum! ~ I own EVERY (& I mean EVERY) color & pattern of duct made by Duck & 3M so I use lots more colors & patterns)

Plastic shopping bags

Scissors

Diagram of sushi you'd like to reproduce

Permanent markers for detail work, if desired

Craft knife & cutting mat/board

Step 2
Time to make your "rice" rolls. Now I'm making both Maki & Nigiri. Maki is the rolled stuff, with the seaweed wrapped around it. Nigiri is the rice ball/oval that has a piece of meat or egg or etc on the top with a minimal tying of seaweed, or no tie at all.

Cut your shopping bag into 3 to 5 large pieces & roll, roll, roll! If you're going to do the Nigiri, you want longer oval shapes. If you're doing Maki you want a shorter, rounder cylinder shape.

Tape it down with just a small scrap piece of tape. Doesn't matter what color, doesn't matter how "pretty" it looks as this is the very center of your sushi, you'll NEVER see it.

My Nigiri are at the top right, my Maki at the bottom left.
Step 3
Make your base shapes into rice balls!

Take a strip of white roughly 3 times as long as your sushi base. To make it easier, go for a 3-4" long strip.


Place your baggie shape far enough onto the tape that you'll get a total wrap with a little extra. Basically you want to cover the entire baggie shape in duct tape.



Now roll it up! Make sure to keep the edges level, you want as straight & true a roll as possible. You want a nice, tight, bubbleless wrap if possible, too.


If you're doing the Nigiri type, make your pieces of tape about 5-6" long.

Step 4
Next, wrap it again! You'll do this 2 more times, for a total of 3-4 layers of white tape. It makes sure the shape holds & it gives you a chance to get as close to real life a "rice" shape as possible.



Step 5
Now its time to wrap the black "seaweed" around the rice (IF YOU'RE MAKING MAKI ONLY!)


Its okay if the black doesn't go all the way around. You can make more than one wrapping (I suggest 2-3 actually). You may need to cut, or tear, the duct tape to the proper width for your Maki.


When finished yours should look something like this:




Step 6
Time to make the "filling" & toppings!

If you're doing Maki, this is pretty easy! If you're doing Nigiri, its gonna be more time consuming but looks way cooler! (I know that is not proper English, that there's White Trash English!)

To make Maki of any kind, take a small piece of your chosen color (depending on your "filling") & cut it with the scissors, or on the cutting mat with your craft knife, into a triangle or square. You need 2 of each "filling", one for each end.




To make Ebi Nigiri (prawn sushi) you'll need to make a rough prawn shape with some plastic shopping bag, much as you did with the actual rice shapes in the 2nd step. Give it a roughly round "head" area & make sure you have 2 "fins" at the other end. Tape it loosely as you did before, with just a scrap piece of tape.


I'm using the red & yellow tie dye (sold as "Cosmic Tie Dye") as it most closely matches an actual shrimp (I'm not having that shrimp vs prawn argument, they're the same thing to me).


Once you have your basic shape, now you want to wrap it with your shrimpy/prawny tape. Lay your prawn onto the stick side making sure to hang your "fins" off the edge. Fold the second half of the strip over the top & wrap gently to ensure it covers the entire body.


You'll need to make two small strips & wrap them around the "fins" to ensure they're the same color but stand out from the body, just like a real prawn.


Now take a small strip, about 1 1/2 - 2" long by about 1/4" wide, & wrap it around the shrimp & rice making sure to hide the ends at the bottom. Your Ebi Nigiri should look something like this:



To make Tamago Nigiri (Egg or "sweet omelet") start with a strip of yellow duct tape, about 10-12 inches. Fold it in half, back upon itself.


Roll the yellow tape up, making several layers as you go. Tape the underside closed with a small piece of yellow.


Now take your black, tearing off a strip about 3 inches long. Tear it the long axis so you end up with a thin, long strip. Wrap it around the Tamago Nigiri so that there's a yellow layer on top of one of your longer white "rice" cylinders. It should look something like this when you're done.


To make Kani Nigiri (crab stick) you'll need a piece of tape about 8" long. Fold it back & tape it to itself.



Fold your piece of tape in on the edges, making a roughly rectangular shape where you can NOT see the ends of the tape. Tape it loosely with a small scrap piece & you have a crab stick! Take another small, long strip about 2" by 1/4" & wrap the crab stick to the rice & you've got Kani Nigiri!


By now you should have a basic understanding of what to do to make sushi out of duct tape. I made many more types so if you want those instructions just leave me a comment. I'd love to see what you make though.