The Arts & Crafts settle and more "faux" paintwork

It's nearly done, but like all big pieces of furniture with large areas of canework, it takes time - a lot of time. Here is the progress so far.

The first set of diagonal weavings are about half way across the seat.

Back to faux finishes, in this post here I was working on a faux rosewood finish and said then that there was another popular faux finish imitating burr walnut. Well by coincidence here's one that came into the workshop last week.

A 1920's cane backed chair with a medallion and very convincing painted walnut finish. The back is now recaned, tinted and sealed.

It's not surprising people believe that this effect is real walnut is it?

A Facebook page

Okay, I said I would never do it..............but I gave in and we now have a Facebook page!

It's all a bit new at the moment, but here it is:

Former Glory Seat Weaving's Facebook

Please have a look - leave us a comment, tell us the sort of information you would like us to post about.

Word & Wisdom of the Week

Word of the week:

Erudite

Characterized by great knowledge; learned or scholarly

(Ha - so it's not the two part glue then.....!)

Wisdom of the week:


"Wise men speak because they have something to say,
Fools because they have to say something." - Plato Greek Philosopher

I'll shut up now.

Word & Wisdom of the Week

Word of the week:

Circumspect

 

Watchful and discreet; cautious; prudent.

 

Feeling like that a lot lately!

 

Wisdom(s) of the week:

 

A wise old owl sat on an oak,

The more he saw the less he spoke,

The less he spoke the more he heard,

Why aren't we like that wise old bird?" - Author unknown

"Remember, people will judge you by your actions, not your intentions. You may have a heart of gold - but so does a hard boiled egg." - Author unknown

 

Okay, two this week - liked them both and couldn't make my mind up.

Faux Rosewood painted finish

The chair frame is now "Rosewooded". This technique was very popular in Victorian times, take a simple beech or birch frame and then make it look super special by giving it a painted finish to make it look like very expensive rosewood or burr walnut. We see a lot of Deco period chairs with a faux walnut burr finish that is so convincing that the owners think that it really is walnut, they're very disappointed when we tell them that it's a painted effect. In the case of the walnut finish, the wood is usually gesso plastered first to give a silky finish, then underpainted before the top fake "walnutting" is applied. Whereas the rosewood effect is usually applied directly onto the prepared wood.

This is what the frame looked like after it was cleaned but before the faux effect was started.

There were lots of areas where the finish was worn through and missing.

It took a little while, but this is what it looks like now.

It's not very often you see a whole chair done in this way.

The split cane seat rail

Well I decided to repair the rail rather than replace it. The split was glued using modern permanent resin glue and left clamped all weekend in a warm place. It's now solid so ready for the next phase of repair.

Cane puts an enormous strain on the frame, so you have to be sure that the repair is going to be strong enough. It helps to add some small hidden dowels between the drilled holes along the frame for a bit of extra grip.

 

Here it is. The holes have been cleared of glue so it's now ready to be fitted back into the frame.

Next job is to restore the original faux rosewood finish on the beech frame - always a bit fiddly.

Here's the remnants of the finish on the back rail that I need to copy. Not much left to go on!

Word & Wisdom of the Week

Word of the week:

Prestidigitation:

From French: quick-fingeredness, from Latin praestigiae  feats of juggling, tricks, probably influenced by French preste  nimble, and Latin digitus.

Wisdom of the week:

The magician and the politician have much in common: they both have to draw our attention away from what they are really doing" - Ben Okri

Sad, but probably true....