A Gilded Children's Chair

We do all kinds of large, complecated jobs here at the shop, but we also do little ones fairly often.  This job is not only little, but the furniture is little to!

This gilded chair is just the right size for a child.  We see children's rocking chairs quite frequently but chairs are a bit more rare.

As you can see, the chair came to us in multiple pieces.  Clearly some child had a little to much fun during playtime.  But we used our 'magical' skills and put this chair back together so that another child may have a golden throne to sit on.

Besides the obvious structural damage,  there were several woven strands on the seat which had broken.  We patched these strands and then re-guilded all of the repaired areas on the chair.  It came out very well.  All of the repairs blend in,  and the chair still has and old, well loved appearance.

Another Childs Seagrass Rocker!!!

 Not long ago we had a very unique child's sized seagrass rocker come into our shop, to be completely re-woven.  It took us some time, and a lot of skill, to get the job done.  It was picked up earlier in 2011 by it's very happy owner and we figured we would never one like it again.

Boy were we wrong!  We had another rocker come into our shop of an almost identical design, just weeks later.  The only noticable differences between the two, is that the first one had a rounded top, and this second one has a square top.  But they are so

similar, that they even have the same decorative diamond woven into their backs.

On a quick glance, the first one that came to us looks like it was in much worse repair.  But upon further inspection we found that this one was just as much in need of help.  There are broken fibers throughout the entire seat and back.   Many of  the  thicker sabilizing strands are broken off, and the lower front corner on one side is missing.


I am looking forward to seeing this chair new, sturdy, and ready for little bodies to sit in it!

If you would like to see what we did for the first little seagrass rocker, you can go to this link.....
http://furniturerenewalist.blogspot.com/2011/01/beautiful-childs-seagrass-rocker.html

Or this link for a full photo display....   http://www.flickr.com/photos/furniturerenewal/sets/72157625699640273/

Superheroes Rescued by Super Craftsmen!

We have had a rash of small, child sized rocking chairs come in lately, each with their own unique needs.  This one is made in a classic spindle and bentwood back design. It was getting on in years and the glue was weakening.  Then some little boys played superhero on the rocker and all the weak glued joints came loose, a seam in the seat came apart, and the bentwood back cracked. So then it was, Craftsmen To The Rescue! 

Since the young superheroes didn't have very deep pockets, we needed to fix the rocker as economically as possible.  We fixed the split in the seat, we re-glued all the spindles and repaired the damaged bentwood back.  We would have liked to strip the chair and soak the bentwood back. Then we could have properly repaired and re -shaped it. But instead we just re-glued it and left the shape pretty much how it was when it came in.

So this little chair has been put back together, rescued from the accidentally overwhelming might of the young caped crusaders, and ready for any damsels in distress to pine away in it.

Hopefully someday we will be able to complete the job and make the finish shine like the Silver Surfer.

Beautiful Child's Seagrass Rocker, Completed!

 Work just finished on this adorable child sized seagrass rocker.    The owner of this chair is now in her 90's and rocked in it when she was a little girl.  She wanted her grand children and great-grandchildren to be able to enjoy it, so she brought it to us for restoration.  We took all the weaving off,  and brought it down to just it's basic structure.  Then started weaving it again, from scratch.  You can see the entire progress on our flickr page here...    http://bit.ly/dHHkPb   It looks pretty good again, now that the weaving is finished.  It looks like it should go on a miniature porch, with miniature dogs at it's feet!

I love children's Rockers.  I had one when I was a child and at the time it seemed pretty great to have a seat of  my own, that actually fit me!  This rocker is so unique, I have never seen one like it.  I hope that many future generations can enjoy it and appreciate it's unique beauty!