The Time Has Come To Change Our Delivery System.

By now I guess most people are aware that the Royal Mail had a review earlier this month and as usual their prices have gone up, (well they never go down do they!) But very sneakily, they have also changed the parcel sizing structure and standard compensation levels. This means that unless a package is very small indeed, we will not be able to afford to use their services as some prices have doubled in real terms.

So to save costs whilst trying to maintain a reliable service, we are using a plethora of couriers including a two to four working day service. Regular customers may notice that their orders take a couple of days longer to arrive than normal, but please bear with us, we are trying our best to keep delivery prices the same as before. The next day England/Wales service and costs have remained the same.

The rattan embargo is still in place so the material supply for our craft is still strangled. How much longer this will continue we don't know, but we are trying to keep as much stock on hand as we possibly can so that we can all continue to work.

On a brighter note, it's not long until the Summer!! Next big job for us is to bring Bernard out of his Winter livery.

One African Seagrass Chair finished, just one more to go.

Chaos still reigns here at F.G. Stripping the wallpaper off in one room revealed a need to re-plaster the walls, so this dirty job added to the already burgeoning list of other things "to do" has left us with the feeling that maybe we'll never get to the end of the work! It'll be a while before this room is back in commission.

However, work doesn't do itself, (as much as sometimes I wish it would) so soldier on we must! The third and penultimate African chair is finished and I'm mustering up the courage and concentration to start the last one soon.

It is lovely to see the finished article, but such a lot of weaving, effort and time goes into it. In between times for a bit of light relief, we're catching up with all of the drop-in rush seats and cane chairs that need repair. Trouble is as soon as we think we're getting ahead of the workload, more arrives, don't get me wrong.....I'm not moaning!

Another beautiful thing has happened, here's our new friend, his name is Digby and he's 14 weeks old.

Sadly he's not ours he belongs to our friend, but I have a feeling we may get to see him often. What more could we ask for!

Snow, Decorating and Chairs Galore.

Well it's been a long time since I last wrote a blog post - sorry! Perhaps it's something to do with the Winter season, it's harder to be enthusiastic when it's dark and cold outside don't you think?

We've had more than our usual share of snow and ice here in Dorset this year, I admit it's very pretty, but I guess because we never expect to see so much bad weather here in the south, it always causes chaos. Trees down, roads closed, burst pipes....it's all happened locally. And then when the snow melted to be replaced with icy winds, there were three bad car accidents in one week in our little village thanks mostly to the ice. Each time the road was closed and in one incident the fire brigade were called to cut the roof off one of the cars. Like I said earlier, snow LOOKS pretty!

Today is dry and sunny, it's even feeling a bit warmer, so I'm hoping that enthusiasm returns with the good weather!

The New Year's workload arrived promptly, which is great news, as long as you have lots of spare space to store stuff until you get around to it. Unfortunately space is something that we've never got enough of at the best of times. However, this year in our infinite wisdom, we made the problem even worse by deciding that the time had definitely come when the house decorating had to be done. Picture the scene, all of the room space normally inhabited by waiting work is non existent, instead it's occupied by random bits of decorating equipment - step ladders, paint pots and piles of stripped
wallpaper. It is an obstacle course, I keep telling myself never mind, it can only get better! ("sighs")

There is a lot of interesting and challenging work in hand, so that helps. The last two African chieftain chairs are here and started already.

There's quite a bit of cabinet work to do on a few other chairs like this one that needs an arm transplant.

And to fill up my last few working hours, I revamped our webpages! Have a look and please let me know what you think. http://www.formerglory.co.uk/

So all in all a busy time. I'll try to post blogs more regularly, but in the meantime if you're interested we'll be posting "workaday" news on our facebook page here - https://www.facebook.com/FormerGlorySeatWeaving

2013

Another New Year and a number "13", here's wishing everyone a lucky one!

The Indonesian rattan embargo is still in place.....at the moment, but fingers crossed that the situation will change this year. I think we could all do with some truly GOOD news. We are back to work now with a vengeance, first seat of the year was on this lovey old traditional spindle back dining chair.

Today it's something a bit different, a green paper fibre rush back on this Shaker style rocking chair.

The lady who had his chair made for her daughter over 30 years ago said that she never liked the webbing panels, I'm inclined to agree with her. I hope she likes the new weaving we've done when it's finished!

The run up to Christmas

Always a busy time of the year one way or another! For us it's the deadline to finish customers furniture in time for a perfect Christmas holiday and the time when our regular customers for materials need to stock up to meet their own deadlines. So all in all we are very much kept on our toes.

The last few Mondays in particular have been very busy on the phone, so much so that sometimes as soon as you put the receiver down, it rings immediately. Doesn't leave a lot of time to weave, but we are getting ahead now.

Some Magistretti seat pads

Quite a few unusual cane chairs

And a few very old and very beautiful rush chairs

Our first order of cane materials has arrived and a second is due here in the next week or so. Hopefully we will have enough to keep everyone going for quite a few months yet. No sign so far of the Indonesian rattan embargo being lifted, but keep your fingers crossed!

Rush and cane weaving, perfect for cold, dark winter days!

It's cold!! The leaves on the oak tree have turned a gentle shade of gold, toadstools grow in clusters like freckles on the lawn and the days are shortening.

We haven't had much luck with our efforts to grow vegetables this year, normally we have so many courgettes that we sicken of them, but not this year. This tomato sums it up I think, one of the very few that grew to a decent size and it somehow managed to get caught between the wire shelf!

I enjoy cane and rush weaving more in the wintertime, they are both nice clean occupations that can be done in a small well heated space. We've got plenty to be getting on with and a lot of variety just now. Old and new rush seats,

and lots of bergere work

It makes for an interesting life.

What is it Winter already? Time to look at old photos then.

Strange times. This week the weather has swung from mosquito ridden damp warmth, to very heavy rain, then sunshine followed by chilly, cloud free nights. I'm obviously not the only one who's confused by this weird weather. These are emerging daffodils in our garden today.

And this is a beautiful flower that has decided that October is the month to shine.

All so very topsy turvy. The rhododendron hedge was in flower at the end of last month for the second time this year and oddest of all, a white rhododendron flowered white in the Spring and then purple in the Autumn. Peculiar.

However, the unpredictable weather is a perfect excuse for getting all of the admin and other boring "housekeeping" duties in order. It was while I was in the process of filing old photos that I came upon these very old images of work I'd completely forgotten about. Work that was done at a time when I did more of the heavier restoration....and had more space! Here's a "before" photo of a well worn piece.

We still have this old shopfitting cabinet, it's perfect for holding all of the bits and pieces you need to use every day. Each drawer is familiar to me, I know exactly what is in each one without even looking. It still looks moreorless the same, even though I've used it everyday for about 10 years, but here was the photo I took immediately after it was finished.

I don't care where I end up, or what I end up doing in the future, this cabinet goes with me!