Woven Basket/Box Modification

 This is one instance where certain pets did not get along with the furniture they were living with.   The pet certainly won this fight!

The material on this  box was actually woven in a big sheet and then wrapped onto the box.  There is braid holding down it's edges and seam. It is almost impossible to find this kind of woven 'cloth' and to re-weave the damaged areas on this

box by hand would have been very tricky

So instead our client went for a more creative route.   Instead of repairing the woven fibers, we covered them with some custom made medallions.   While we were cutting, we also made a much nicer lid.   Our client does her own 'faux painting' so she is going to add all the finishing touches to this project.   We think this box came out looking very cute!  Hopefully we can convince our client to take some photos for us, once her painting project is done.

The Challenges of Machine Cane Weaving

With The Spline Cut To Size And Drying To Shape

 We do quite a bit of traditional hand caned seats here at the shop but we also do a good amount of unique caning besides that.  This chair back needs two 'windows' of machine caning, giving us a unique shape to work with and also a unique weave.  The set of chairs has a 'radio net' weave which is made up of perpendicular strands of cane done in a box pattern.  The chair also has a curved back which gives us yet another challenge to work with.   

Masked Of Weaving, Before & After Staining

Curved weaving has to be put in place by someone who really knows what they are doing.  If it is not done well,  then the weaving panel can distort and either 'cup' or 'buckle' leaving a surface you would not be happy with.  In addition, the glue which holds the woven panels in place can drain out if not done well leaving patches of dry spline, allowing the machine cane to come undone.  Not good!

Another big challenge with machine woven cane is just getting the old stuff out! If it was originally put in well, then it is going to be really stuck in there.  It has to be chiseled out, which if not done by an expert hand, can chip the wood, leaving you with a much bigger problem then you started with.

Here at the shop we are fortunate enough to have an expert Furniture Weaver, and she did a beautiful job on this difficult task.

Have you ever tried machine or hand weaving before? We would love to hear how it went!