The "Denims" stool

A bit of carving.....I don't know why or how this came about, but when a fork between two branches of hazel looked like a pair of jeans, it seemed natural to carve a cowboy boot and put it on the bottom of the branch! (I know...it's mad...)

The "blocking out" of the shape.

Then the finished carving.

Is it mad? Oh well, my defence is "one's man meat is another man's poison! Now to decide how to weave the top - any ideas?

No 1 son's project.......

We're not the only people in the household with projects. No 1 son has a passion for restoration too, except his projects are somewhat larger than ours, usually cars or buildings! I'm sure it's our own fault for indulging his passion for model cars and lego when he was a tot.

Well here it is.........

It's been several weeks of very hard labour for him, but what a result! It was a non-runner with endless mechanical and bodywork problems, but he has persevered and now it is fully roadworthy and has passed the MOT test. It still needs a front end re-paint, but that's non-essential cosmetic work as far as he's concerned and will have to wait until more funds are available. I heard it running this morning.....mmmmmm, a Rover V8, just like a quietly purring big cat. We're very proud of his achievement, this is the third car he's either restored or rebuilt. Well done son!!!

Meanwhile we're plodding on - remember the chair frame that needed refinishing last week? Well here it is now waiting for the cane to be replaced.

I also spent some time over the weekend making a couple more footstool frames from scratch using some hazel from our garden and some recycled bits and pieces that we've gathered together over the years.

We're going to put a really fancy top on this one to contrast with the simplicity of the frame. The second of these frames is in pieces in the background of the photo, one of the legs has two branches and looks like a pair of jeans to me, so it's been christened the "Denims" stool!

Back to the mundane for today though, more "Habitat" cane panel seats.......

If you want to have a look at the work of loads of other really talented craftspeople, then pay a visit to Wendy's blog here, She showcases other crafty bloggers skills every Monday - pay her a visit!

An Art Deco Bergere and Mr Wegner....again.

I feel like Forrest Gump's Mom saying it, but it is true that in our line of work "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get"! This week so far we span from 1900 to 1970, high Victorian to sleek modernist with a bit of bling in between. Firstly on Monday this arrived......

A high Art Deco, faux painted Walnut, blind sunset cane backed bergere sofa. It weighs a ton! For now we will just be replacing the arm panels, but first of all I've got to find a way of re-gluing one of the joints without disturbing the upholstery - could be interesting.

Then there is this....

Another one!! Hans Wegner's Wishbone chair. This ones seat has been half eaten and stropped by the cat.

Finally a fiddly one....

It's a low bergere armchair. The cane in the back and arms has to be replaced and whilst we're at it, the customer has asked us to "give the frame a bit of a clean". Easier said than done when the upholstery is fairly new, hence the parcel tape and plastic covering every square inch of fabric! I'll post pictures of the revived woodwork soon.

I'm also hoping to return to the black lacquer chair this week to do more repair work, but we'll see if time permits. Our next and last show of the year at Larmer Tree Gardens is just over two weeks away, so we will have to make time to produce some new pieces for that as well.

Good things come in threes

Good things come in threes so they say, well at least they certainly did for us this weekend. First of all a friend arrived on the doorstep with a beautiful bunch of flowers to say thank you for something we'd done. It was completely unexpected so was such a lovely surprise. Then on Saturday, our "apprentice", (kind of our third son really) also turned up on the doorstep unannounced with an invite to his wedding next year. Fantastic!

Then to top it all the postman arrived with this little card.

Such a pretty picture of a house in France. But the best bit was the message inside.

It's always nice to know that people like what you do, but even more special when they use some of their precious time to tell you so. All I had done was wrapped a pot handle, see at the bottom of this post here where I mentioned it last week!

I'm gobsmacked!! Thanks to all three for making this weekend very special.

Is there anybody out there that has 6500 chairs for re-caning??

We've just had a delivery of rattan materials, enough to reweave about 6500 average bedroom chairs. The order arrived this morning, just as the first couple of customers were leaving and another set arrived, so needless to say today has been bedlam - lorries, cars and people everywhere!

This is what that quantity of materials looks like.

Then we had to move all of this lot from the delivery van into the store - don't you just love Fridays!

Lovely weather for ducks.....with strong wings!

Well I don't know about hurricane Katia supposedly arriving overnight, but if yesterday is anything to go by then we don't need any more hurricanes, we've had quite enough bad weather thank you very much!!

It seemed like a very long day yesterday at the show and overall it was lovely, except for the weather. Why has virtually every event this year been blighted by the cold, heavy rain or high winds?

Anyway, just for a change I didn't take any photos at all, but I did make a little film, it's on youtube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkDoOx0EXP4

A day in the life of me, my better half and Bernard, (of course).

I felt so sorry for some of the stallholders, the wind was incredibly strong at times and wickedly blustery. One minute everything would be calm then the next, a great whoosh, clatter and bang, someone else's gazebo would be bending or breaking!

We're glad to be home.

And on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, memories drift back to that awful day when it seems the whole world stood and watched in disbelief at the unfolding events. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims.

What on earth was I doing moaning about a bit of bad weather!!

Last minute job

Still a bit tacky, but finally I have got around to repairing, cleaning and refinishing this French medallion table top that we have had for years. At last it can be reinstated in pride of place at the back of our stand, (without me feeling embarrassed that it is grubby and unloved!)

Now we really are ready for the show tomorrow - I think!