The Mouseman footstool is nearly finished!

Had an inspiring weekend....so I thought I'd make the most of it and work on the lovely little Mouseman footstool. First of all I removed the old leather seat straps that were broken...

then some old leather had to be aged to match the 90 years of wear and tear...

The new bare strips were cut and woven into place....

and finally, the new straps were antiqued to match the originals....

I'm quite pleased so far, tomorrow the hide feed will have been absorbed into the old leather and I should be able to buff the whole top, then I'll be able to do the final distressing to the new straps.

Why not pop over to Wendy's handmade Monday to see what everyone else has been doing this week?

A boot sale book!

Last weekend we did a boot sale. Mother in Law's house is now nearly empty, so we have what seems like tons of things to dispose of most of which is too good to throw away. The money raised is also very welcome, nursing homes, (especially demetia care nursing) are not cheap!! There's nothing of great value to sell, but even the 50p's add up and it feels good to be able to add a few hundred pounds to the care home pot from the last few months efforts.

But when at a boot sale I can't help myself.....I just have to have a wander......I found this on my travels.

A 1949 book of basketry by Dryad Press! What makes it even better for me is Mr Crampton is working with centre cane reed all the way through the book. I'm chuffed. This little passage made me smile.....

"The beginner finds enough difficulties in his way and should be warned against low-priced and poor quality material. The real craftsman prefers to select his cane, irrespective of price, because it not only saves time but produces a superior article. You cannot do good work with poor materials"

Love it! A man definitely after our own hearts and way ahead of his time! I'm looking forward to spending some serious time with this man's book.

A "Mouseman" footstool

I think most people have heard of the "Mouseman", or to give him his proper name, Robert Thompson "The Mouseman of Kilburn". He was a prolific maker of English Oak furniture in the 1930's who preferred to stick to traditional methods and tools to produce his designs. His major influence was medieval simplicity, a single worker could make one piece in its entirety - no production line. As a result, each piece is unique with a texture all of its own. Robert Thompson started to mark his work with a carved mouse in the 1920's, apparently to begin with the mouse even had carved front legs, but as these broke off a little too easily, the mouse was redesigned and this is one way that collectors of his furniture can date a piece. The company still exists today, they have a website here:

http://www.robertthompsons.co.uk/

Well........ look what came to our workshop on Friday afternoon..........

It's lovely! The little mouse's face is so well carved and the oak has a really soft tactile finish, even though you can see the marks of the hand tools clearly, every surface is smooth to the touch. The owner remembers it from when he was a very small boy and it wasn't new then, so we estimate this is a very early stool from the 1930's. He loves it and would never part with it because the little mouse brings back so many memories for him, it's part of his family.

All we need to do is to replace five of the leather seat strips, they have broken - the weaving itself is not a difficult thing to do, the hardest part will be cutting and aging the new leather strips to match the old ones! A little job for tomorrow.

What a week.

It's been very busy on lots of fronts, so a quick catch up.

Last weekend there was a wedding......one of our eldest sons best friends married his lovely lady at a super hotel overlooking the sea from the cliffs around Bournemouth. Our son was the best man, he looked so dapper in his tails! The bride looked ever so scrumptious in a beautiful beaded ivory silk dress. It was so lovely to be there, most of our sons friends have been around us since they were small boys so it was like walking into a room full of family, there was a lot of laughter and reminiscing.

But it was tainted. Our son also lost his job. It is unfinished business, so I can't say anything here yet. He is fine now, in fact extremely relieved and happy to leave a company where a few individuals have been somewhat desultory and disingenuous, (not necessarily my favourite words)

He's already filling his time messing about with his new toy, (a car of course) and we are sure that when he finds his new position, it will be with a company that appreciates his inate people skills and direct honesty. In the meantime, I'm sure I can find him something creative to do!

Mother in Law's house is also on the market, so finally we have an end to the long journeys, endless decorating and cleaning of the last year, yippee!

We've just been plodding on trying to clear the pile of work, mainly rush seated chairs - we are winning the battle now I think, at least there is less to do than has already been done.

So a word or two of the week, (as I haven't done one for ages).

Desultory - lacking consistency, constancy, or visible order, disconnected; fitful.

Vindictive - characterised by spite or rancour, English law of damages - in excess of the compensation due to the plaintiff and imposed in punishment of the defendant.

Shabby chic!

As a restorer I spend the vast majority of my time cleaning up, revitalising or replacing an original finish. It's not every day that I'm asked to paint something!

A few weeks ago two chairs arrived, they looked like this.

Now normally I would expct to remove the gold paint, re-gesso and re-gild the frames, but just for a change my client wants me to remove the finish and paint them to look like they have always been painted, ie distressed shabby chic! He wants to use them in a display.

So first they were soda blasted, the only way to remove the old finish without damaging the incrediby fine carving. The process was so gentle that it even stripped the paint from the canework in the back without damaging it.

Then they were painted in Farrow & Ball paint.

Two coats of paint later, they were antiqued to bring out the depth of the carving and then some of the highlights in the paintwork were rubbed through to give the look of a hundred years use.

Just have to recane the seats now. I'll post a picture of both when they're finished. I'm realy enjoying myself!

Triangular rush chair and another egg basket

Another long week of mainly cane panelling and standard cane work, but there was one unusual seat weave. The Victorian triangular chair, it was an awkward one, but it's nearly finished now. All that remains to be done is the final sealing of the fibre rush and replacing of the protective wooden edging or "rub rails".

You don't see many triangular seats and this one was just the wrong size for our work table. We ended up working on it with two legs straddling the corner of the table so the whole thing tilted forwards - not the easiest way to do it! This is what it looked like when it arrived.

I've also been working on a couple of egg baskets for a commission, they're coming on well, so far I'm quite pleased with them.

A bit more weaving to do and wrapping of the handles, soon be finished.

Being an Exhibitor - Episode 4

The big day.

Ever since I can remember we have done the same thing when we prepare for a show. We consult "THE BOOK"! Right from the beginning we kept a list of the things we needed to take, mainly because as demonstrators staying on site you can't afford to forget anything, (although I do remember forgetting to pack our work table once....it's only the most important thing we need). So give it a try - imagine yourself at the fair and mentally go through your day thinking of all the things you may need and jot them down in a book. I'll start you off:

Basics: Fuel in your vehicle - stock - table/s and covering cloth - shelves/stands - any working equipment/tools - insurance documents - show paperwork/passes etc - phone

Stationery: Price tags - pens - rubber bands - business cards - staples - paper - visitor book, (for customers to leave you their contact details) - drawing pins - cheque book, (if you need to pay the organiser) - scissors - sticky tape - labels - tape measure - mirror, (if you sell goods that need to be tried on) - carrier bags - string, (you never know when you might need it)

Financial: Money belt - sales book - receipt pad - credit card machine, (if you have one) - a float for your till/belt.

Other: Flask or bottle of drink - food - sweets, (for the sore throat you'll get from talking too much) - comfy old shoes, (just in case those new shoes that you have only worn in last week suddenly start to dig into your heels) - wear layers of clothes so that you can add layers if it's cold and take them off if it gets hot.

Each time we prepare for a show we tick each item off in pencil, then when everything is packed, we rub the ticks out ready for the next time. The books looking a bit ragged now but it still works. You will no doubt think of loads of things I've forgotten, so if you do, please tell me and I'll add it in my little book!

Then the last bit of advice - smile and enjoy yourself! Remember.......

Smiling

Smiling is infectious, you catch it like the 'flu,

When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too.

I passed around the corner and someone saw me grin,

Suddenly I realised I'd passed it onto him.

I thought about the smile and realised what it's worth,

A single smile like mine could travel round the Earth.

So when you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected.

Start an epidemic - get the World infected!

Author Unknown