The Indonesian rattan embargo

A lot of our regular customers are worried. They have been asking us about the future of rattan supplies as they are hearing rumours.....

At the beginning of this year the Indonesian Government implemented an embargo on the export of rattan. Last year the Jakarta Post wrote:

"Early this December, the Trade Ministry of Indonesia, totally banned exports of raw and semi-processed Rattan starting from January 1st  2012 as part of efforts to revive the ailing local rattan industry and to give higher value to the commodity at home. Along with this move by the Trade Ministry, the Industry Ministry and Forestry Ministry show their support for this policy. MS Hidayat, Industry Minister, has also created a road map as guidance for developing the domestic furniture industry and boosting the competitiveness of locally made furniture during the next five years."

So yes, I'm afraid there is a problem for those of us in the restoration industry that use rattan products. Even though we pose no threat to the Indonesian home market, we are caught up in this event. At the moment, many of the processing factories outside of Indonesia have retained back up supplies of the raw materials, but these are dwindling fast and they cannot be replaced. Raw material prices have increased massively, we have had reports of rises up to 200% during this year alone. The factories that produce hand weaving cane and woven panelling are selling their stocks at hugely inflated prices and then closing. Their staff are finding new careers in other industries as even they see no future in rattan. We have been told by a friend of ours in the industry that up to two thirds of the factories have already closed.

Where does this leave us? For now supplies are available, but the prices are going to be much higher than we have ever experienced before. Some of the products that we are familiar with will no longer be available as the skilled workers who make them leave the industry. Indonesia isn't the only area of the world producing rattan, but is generally acknowledged that they are responsible for about 80% of the production and needless to say there will be stiff competition for the other 20%. Will the ban remain in place for long? We don't know, but it's effects will no doubt resonate for a long time to come.

So where's the good news? Synthetic rattan has already made itself a firm favourite and almost replaced rattan as the material of choice for conservatory and patio furniture in most areas of the world. Take a trip to your local garden centre and see how many suites you see in synthetic versus natural material. Maybe over time the dwindling demand for natural rattan furniture will encourage the Indonesian governors to view the export ban differently and see that there are other important markets for their semi-processed premium materials....that is all assuming that we as premium consumers can survive in business for long enough!

Meanwhile all is not lost. We have some ideas that we are already formulating to ensure that we can continue on helping our customers to stay in the restoration business, so don't worry. There is always an alternative.......we just need to find it first, but be assured, we are doing all we can.

Preparing for Stock Gaylard Oak Fair

There's still quite a bit of client work to do, but we are getting ahead as most of the jobs in the workshop now are scheduled for September delivery. Sooooo.....we can begin preparations for our final demonstration of the year at the Oak Fair. The "to do" list is endless, the horsebox needs work, we have very few pieces for exhibition, must make some footstool frames...etc....etc!

The vintage crib frame that we bought a few weeks ago is getting restored. It's time consuming, but I'm pleased so far.

Going to have to get my old sewing machine out and my thinking cap on - next task is to line the inside with something beautiful! Any suggestions? At least it will be something different to put on our display, with or without a lining!

Here's one of the most recent client jobs we've finished, this chair had a full restoration and is due to go home soon. A lovely old armchair that would originally have been on rockers.

We're also enjoying the Olympics, it's one of the great things about being your own boss, you can watch, (or at least listen to) the telly while you work. Thank goodness the weather improved over the last week, otherwise it would have been a complete washout.

Hey ho, onward and upward....lots to do.

Summer sunshine

It's amazing what a difference a bit of sunshine can make isn't it? The world seems like a different place. We love it when it's dry and warm, work dries more quickly and joy of joys, we can work outside. Case in point, on Saturday we sealed the seats on the last chairs for the National Trust outside in the sunshine, they were dry within the hour....

Ready to go back to Cornwall!

The garden has suddenly burst into life, plants that I thought had died in the torrential downpours had survived after all, triumphantly raising their heads to the bright warmth of a somewhat belated summer.

Glorious. Hope it lasts.

Whizzing along

Almost August.....can't believe it! At least it seems to have stopped raining for a while and the ground is finally starting to dry. The legacy of so much rain is obvious here, the drains in the road have sunk down at least four or five inches creating regular pot holes. Every so often you will hear a car or truck bumping it's way through - not good, there'll be some buckled wheels I think!

The good news is we have finished the commission for the National Trust on behalf of the Chapel at St. Michael's Mount in Cornwall. The first batch of 54 rush chairs that were delivered to us in January had to be finished for the Chapel opening at Easter and now the last 12 are due to be returned for a large wedding party next month - phew! It has been a long hard slog.

I still need to work it out exactly, but we've replaced 14 or 15 seat rails and a couple of stretchers to be able to re-weave the seats.

Now we can turn at least some of our attention to the last show of the season, (one of our favourites) the Oak Fair at Stock Gaylard. I found this little crib at the market last weekend, I'm so excited about restoring it and hoping that it will be finished for the show.

It looks very sad and neglected here, but I've got plans for it......progress is being posted over on our Facebook page if you're interested.

Well, must get back to it, lots to do!

A rainbow and maybe a UFO?

Well I did say that the weather was very strange yesterday, everything from hail, thunder and lightning to clear blue sky and sunshine. Then yesterday evening there was a rainbow, so I grabbed the camera to take a photo, but it was set on video and I ended up with this little snippet of film....very strange, there seems to be a hovering round thing moving from the centre to the left of the film....a UFO?!

All suggestions welcomed!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/former_glory/7551739230/

Weather and work

I'm sure everyone is fed up of hearing about the British weather, discussing it is our all consuming pastime. But I must admit, I can't remember another time when it has rained so much and been so cool and windy at this time of year. There have been floods everywhere, local businesses losing all of their stock to the freak conditions and trees broken like matchsticks causing chaos on the roads. One poor soul was queuing in traffic in the next village along when a massive oak just fell....landing on his van. Luckily he told his passenger to get down on the floor as the tree struck, both of them walked away from the scene shaken but mostly unhurt. The road was closed for the rest of the day while they chainsawed the lovely old tree into manageable chunks and removed it. The old church yard where it grew looks so different now, it's like a huge slug has eaten a chunk out of the vegetation!

We have been lucky in many ways, yes the drive and garden have been under a fair few inches of water, veg and border plants have struggled to survive and most worryingly we haven't seen our tame blackbird Mrs B for about two weeks now, (hopefully she's raising young....) But all in all the only real problems it has caused is with work, nothing is drying as quickly as it should. Humidity is always a problem when you're trying to glue, polish or refinish furniture so all of these things are taking much longer than normal to do, frustrating, but not life threatening!

We've had a lot of work to do over the past two weeks, dozens of cane panels, a glut of rush armchairs, more chapel chairs for St. Michael's Mount and even a couple of unusual Danish drop-on seat pads.

At the weekend we needed to go to the yard to get some rattan poles out of storage for some customer orders. No problem you'd think, but the yard is next to the airport and you have to cross a causeway over the river to get there. Well, you've probably guessed, we got there to find the water gently lapping 12" over the top of the highest point of the causeway and one car already broken down after trying to get through it! We turned back for home. By the time we had a chance to go again two days later the water had gone down, but only just below the level of the road.

As I type it has started to rain.....AGAIN! Heavy almost hail like blobs are beating on the roof of the workshop. Wherever you are please be safe and I hope you can make the most of the day.

So why you can't use ready woven cane panels in an old hand woven chair?

"I'll have some of the cane panelling, it'll be a lot easier to do won't it? My chair is so old it's not worth spending the time or money on hand weaving it, I'll just put a few patches in.....or push the ends of the panel down the holes and glue them in, keep it looking okay for a bit longer, it'll be fine I reckon"

No....... no it won't. Please don't even try.

Why not? Well a hundred and one reasons, but I'll try and put the main ones in order.

Reason 1. Hand woven cane gets its strength from each single strand being woven back and forth across the chair frame stitching up and down through the holes. No glue is needed and eventually when the holes are dry plugged with centre cane you've got a strong but flexible seat. Machine woven panels are not fitted into holes, they need to be stretched into a rout or groove around the frame perimeter which is then lined with glue and a centre cane filet is hammered in over the top to fill the groove. It's strong and can't pull out when it's fitted like this. The two attachment methods are very different.

Reason 2. Pre-woven panelling more than likely won't fit hand drilled frame holes. Machine woven panels are just that - machine woven, they are more accurately spaced than any hand woven chair could ever be. The Victorians, Edwardians etc. didn't always use a ruler when they drilled the holes around the perimeter of a cane chair seat, they often had a template set up by the designer or manufacturer that would create the gauge and design of weave that they wanted that would fit well with their desired overall effect.

Reason 3. If by luck you did manage to get a pre-woven panel to fit into hand drilled holes, then what's to stop it from pulling out the minute someone sits on it? Nothing. I've seen chairs where this has been done and the only thing that was holding the cane in place was a bit of glue on the hole plugging pegs. Now bearing in mind how glossy cane is, it's not going to hold in place for long like that before it goes baggy or worse still gives way leaving the poor soul who sat on it wedged into an open seat frame - not a good thing to happen.

Reason 4. If you're trying to patch an old panel with bits of pre-woven, then the new cane will stick out like a sore thumb. New cane is creamy beige, old cane gets darker with time, so unless you're prepared to do a lot of careful colour matching, forget it. Old cane has usually broken because it's come to the end of its life, it's dried out, become brittle. There's nothing that can be done about this apart from replacement and if you start to try and weave wonderfully supple new cane through the old stuff, you will find the breaks in the old stuff spreading further and further into the panel making more and more work for you.

So what's the answer? Well some would advocate adapting the hand woven chair to take panelling by filling the holes and putting in a rout instead. Sounds great, except that doing this will take about half of the structural wood out of the frame in a crucial spot. You see, seats that are intended to have panelling fitted have the groove cut at least 3/4" away from the edge of a good chunky frame, the holes for hand weaving are generally much closer to the inner edge of a much finer more delicate frame, so if you rout a groove between them....crack....potentially the inner bit of wood can break off. Great Aunt Mildred could find herself once again wedged into an empty seat frame, but this time with some painfully located splinters!

It's up to you, but if you'll take my advice don't waste your precious time trying to "cheat" it really is a false economy. If you love your chair, then have a go at re-weaving it by hand with a cane seat kit or similar, or ask a professional. If neither of these things are possible just now, put the chair in a dry attic, shed, garage....wherever until you can do the repair, or sell it to someone who wants a project or is keen to breathe new life into something beautiful.

For lots more information please look at our websites at formerglory.co.uk or seatweavingsupplies.co.uk