Shall I call it Murphy's chair?

First I like to say welcome my new followers! I hope you'll enjoy reading here and get inspired by what you see. In this case it's a 1:12 scale model of a regency library chair that i finished the other day. It's got a bit of dynamic because you can alter it into a set of steps by swinging around the top half.

When i decided to make this chair i did a lot of research. It was hard to get technical details (i.e.. measurements etc) and work out a plan because they are a bit rare. In the end I picked out one that was up for sale on the site of an antique dealer. It had 6 detailed pictures and i used those to combine them with the rest of the information i had gathered. And this is what it looks like, set of against the original pictures on the right.

It has a caned seat and its steps are covered with real leather, just like its big brother.

I think I'm gonna call my reproduction of Morgan & Sanders regency library chair after Murphy's law :) Because during the build anything that cóuld go wrong, díd go wrong. The low temperatures in the workshop affected the properties of the glues, so fragile joints gave way numerous times before they were reinforced by connecting joints. Loads of times items fell on the floor and i was on hands and knees almost as much as at the bench. Pieces i couldn't retrieve (?) had to be re-made. One time the whole chair slipped from my fingers, breaking two wooden parts when it hit the ground. I won't repeat what i said back then :O And mounting the hinges was such a delicate job i've redone that a few times till i was satisfied. All in all i think i've build it more than twice? :D So although it doesn't look that difficult, it was a challenge non the less. 

But I'm glad i pushed through; I love metamorphic furniture and this is such a nice example. I've put up an album you can visit here if you're interested in how it was build.

Thank you for your attention and i hope you liked reading.
Have a wonderful weekend!



update; almost forgot to put on a latch, just like its big counterpart, so i made that this Sunday afternoon.

under, over, under, over…

I finished the library chair the other day but before i can post about that i'll need some decent pictures. Perhaps later today after work, or if not, i can make them over the weekend? Anyway, here's how the seat was made. 

A few weeks ago I did a test piece on caning with dental floss, because it's flat and smooth properties resemble cain best. It's the one on the right. But it was really happy about it; still being out of scale & too big!

I figured i'd get back to it when i would start on the actual seat itself. But in the meantime I got some unexpected but much appreciated help! Many thanks to Fransisco from Miniarquitect, who makes the most stunning bistro chairs! He convinced me to use thread (which is thinner) and taught me how you can still make it look great. Because I was a bit apprehensive of the fibers showing but now I know there are ways to overcome that. And then it all made sense… It definitely out ways floss and you can go way smaller, making it more close to scale.

I have to say, not bad :) Not bad at all! And way better than floss! So thank you here too Fransisco :)

There are many great tutorials on the internet and if you're interested here's a really nice one on caning;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5IRBuwONnA

Have a great day,