Tutorial: Fish Canes

Here’s a whimsical tutorial from KalinkaPolinka for fish canes. The tutorial is written in Russian but an English translation is included which is great because the best part are the hints and tips. The pictures are great and self explanatory but the tips about using simple or existing canes to create the potentially complex fish design and to shape cane slices for further “fish”ness is helpful.

This method is an excellent way of doing many of the more complicated designs – a tree cane, turtles, houses – by using simplified components to create a stylized picture cane. Using a sketch to map out the design really helps with a good design, as well.