Great Repair, Amazing Color Work

 I am constantly amazed by the level of craftsmanship that comes from the people who work here at the shop.   Dave,  the Repair Craftsman fabricated this rocker, to replace the one that was missing.  Rockers are tough to duplicate because the curve on the bottom has to exactly match the original.  If they don't match perfectly then the person using the chair will be able to feel an un-even rock.

Once the piece was constructed though, it still had to be made to match the color of the original.  That is where Steve, the Master Craftsman steps in.   He did a very nice job.  Not only does the new match the old in color, but the distressing on the original that occurs with time was mimicked on the new!  This required fancy technique and an artistic eye.

Three projects, all using different skills

For those of you who read my post yesterday about 'stripped door art',  I wanted you to see how the door came out after the stripping process.  It needs to be sanded before it is stained or painted again, but this redwood came out very clean.  Especially considering how much paint was on this, I think it is pretty impressive!  We have people come in all the time who have started to strip the paint or finish off of their wood item and realized, it was a lot more work then they thought, or just not coming off as clean as they wanted.  So they bring it to us and we do the job right!

Another update for you,  the child's rocker project is coming along well.  The seat is all woven, and the back and base supports are wrapped.  We still have quite a way to go on this project but I can see it is going to look so good when it is done.







Back in the finishing booth we have a really nice dresser being completed.   The owner of the piece decided not to use a colored stain, and just let the wood's natural colors shine through.  So that is just what we did, and look how good it came out!  The dresser is made of Mahogany, which is the darker wood you see, and it has poplar trim throughout, which is the lighter wood you see.  Isn't it beautiful?  All it has on it is a natural stain which has little to no color.  I think it is fabulous.

Stripped Door Art

 Today is a stripping day at the shop.  About once a week we pull together all the items that need to be stripped and do it all in one day or afternoon.  Today a painted door is among those items.  I walked back there to see how the work was going and this is what I saw.  The door was being soaked in our stripping tray and the paint was coming up in bubbles off of the wood.

It almost looks like art to me.  If you look at it close, as in this picture the way the paint has scrunched up, creates all these interesting patterns.   What do you think?  Should I print it up and frame it?  Do you think I could put together a collection and make it into a gallery?

Before and After, some favorites of the past

This table has to be one of my favorite projects.  I don't know why it stands out for me above so many other wonderful projects we have worked on here at the shop.  But I remember it well.  This table came to us about 10 years ago.  It had this pretty floral Faux Finish painting on the top.  At the time, we did not have a Faux Finisher who could replicate the pattern, but instead of doing a 'boring' basic finish we added some really nice highlighting.  I think that highlighting is what makes this table stand out so much now.  The carving comes alive, and the table top has so much more dimension.

While I am reminiscing about great projects in our past, I had to bring this one up.  It is certainly unique and like the first project, the finish job we did, brought the features out much better than the original.  This Coffee table is made out of a very neat door.  It looks straight out of a King Arthur tale to me.  When the table came to our shop, it was dull and lifeless.  We stripped the table and re finished it.  With the framing a lighter color than the main door, there was new depth added and the details come alive, just as with the first table. 

We have so much fun working on unique projects like this.  It brings out the artist, the creative mind, the visionary in us.  What a great job, where you can let your creativity come out in such a productive way!  

Child's Seagrass Rocker

 Did you have a mini rocking chair when you were a kid?  I did.  Actually, I still have it.  I have a fondness for rocking chairs of all sorts, but children's rockers are just an entire different kind of wonderful, in my opinion.  This one came to us very, very beat up as you can see.  It is made of woven seagrass which is falling apart.  Fortunately we have a Furniture Weaver who is experienced with Seagrass and can put this delightful piece of furniture back together again.  And I mean, all the way back together!  The rocker is in bad enough shape that together with the owners the decision was made to have the chair completely disassembled and re-woven from the frame up.

Below you can see what we are starting with.  I will put more pictures up as the project progresses.   But in the meantime, how about you tell us about the rocker you had as a child?

19th Century chairs, back in beautiful shape again!

This beautiful set of chairs from the late 19th century has actually been featured on this blog  several times. But now the job is completed and I want to show you the highlights of what we did.  When the set originally came to us,  all four chairs needed to be refurbished, but the arm chair had much more work to be done.  The frame of wood that the upholstery would be attached to had at some point been cut out from this chair.  We needed to re-build it.  That meant taking the chair apart.
When we did that, we discovered that the chair seat that remained was severely cracked.  We could tell there had been a prior attempt at a repair, but that it had already failed.  The wood pretty much shredded as the chair was disassembled.  Our very artistic Repair Craftsman drew the sketch below which shows all the different pieces which came apart and had to be carefully put back together like a puzzle.  You can also see the seat once it was all finished,  you can't even see the repairs!  You can also see here the un-stained wood frame we created for the upholstery to attach to.

Now are you ready?  Here is the beautiful completed set! All re-furbished, and repaired.  This set had truly beautiful detailing even before we worked on it,  now it has a beautiful finish to match the beautiful details.  To see past posts we have done on this set, click on the links provided at the bottom of this post.

Historical Staining, Rebuilt Chair Frame, Custom Dowels, 

Completed Look at a Fabrication Job

 A few posts back I showed you a fabrication project we have been working on here at the shop.  Here you can see the new leg we have made, alongside the leg it needs to match.  I think our Repair Craftsman did a pretty good job!  But after his work was finished,  it was time for our Color Man to step in.  Good woodworking skills are a must, but without the new leg matching the old, we really couldn't consider the job to be 'well done'.

I think that I can say with confidence though, that this is a job well done.  Our Color Man did an exelent job matching the colors, giving the stain a textured, older feel and generally making the replacement blend in with the piece as whole.  I quizzed him about just what he did to get this particular leg looking this good and he was happy to tell me, to a point.  He said he stained it, sealed it, glazed it, used 2-3 different colors of toners, then top coated it.   That seems like quite a lot of steps to me, but i guess it worked because it sure turned out well!