Embroidery fun fact of the day

I'm planning on embroidering something that will require a fish-scale-esque look, so I wanted to see if there was a specific kind of stitch that could achieve that look. Turns out, a billion years ago (in the 1800s), people used actual fish scales in embroidery -

Fishscale embroidery was worked on silk, satin or velvet. The iridescent scales of the carp, perch or goldfish were considered the most suitable.They were scraped from the fish with a knife, steeped in cold water until soft and pliable, and two small holes were pierced with a needle near the base of each scale. The scales were then coloured with a mixture of varnish and powdered colour after which they were ready to be sewn to the ground by silk thread, and were arranged in overlapping patterns to represent the petals of flowers, such as roses, or the shapes of birds and butterflies.- Morris, Barbara Victorian Embroidery p 161-2

 I'm all for experimenting, but... no. Just... no.