Chair Caning Tip of the Day--Adding Fish Heads

How and Why to Make Caning Fish Heads

Remember a while ago (Yikes, it was last year in 2011), when I made a blog post about
Finding the Right Chair Caning Hole when you are weaving the diagonal cane strands?

Well, I discovered a video that I had made back then about that very topic called, Chair Caning Tip of the Day–Making Fish Heads and uploaded it to my channel yesterday. Enjoy!

Making the Chair Cane Fish Heads

Fish heads are made up of two diagonal strands, coming from the same direction, landing in the same hole. This technique or shape is called a fish head because it looks like the profile or side of a fish’s head.

Typically, there will be a fish head in each corner of a square chair or footstool frame. But in a trapezoid (wider in the front than in the back), seat frame or a round or horseshoe-shaped frame, there will be many more fish heads, besides the four in the corner holes.

With complex-shaped frames, anything not a perfect square, you will need to “double-up” and add fish heads because there will be more cane strand ends than there are holes drilled on the frame.

And by creating the fish heads or doubling-up it will also help to create proper “Xs” on the other rows and also to cover up some wood on the frame when weaving a complex shape seat frame.

Wrong and right way to create fish heads and Xs in caning pattern — Wrong way to make the fish heads and corner on the left, correct way of caning on the right

Subscribe to TheWickerWoman Youtube Channel

Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to my channel, so you don’t miss any of the many, many Chair Caning Tips and other fun and interesting videos on chair seat weaving, antler baskets, gathering and working with natural weaving materials and more!

Please leave your comments below about this new video too! Let me know what your feelings are about this chair caning technique and what you might do differently.