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,

The mysterious one legged thief

Hi everyone, I would like to share a little event with you.

First, you gotta know I'm pretty organized on the workbench nowadays, keeping essential pieces half done in a plastic container. You're probably all too familiar with what can happen if you don't? I've been on all fours looking for dropped pieces too often now, so i try to stay pretty methodical. Anyway, making this step ladder chair I started out with cutting the four legs and I've continued building on the back legs to make the top half of the chair. The other day I was ready for the bottom section, i.e. work on the front legs.

No braincell in my head doubted the two front legs would be in the tray. I saw one amongst the numerous other pieces that I've prepared, rummaged to find the other, but sure, there was only one. Only one? Yes, only one… HUH? The next moment i checked the bench, i checked left, right, left again…Nothing. Hmm, OK. The floor, it's on the floor. It has to be on the floor. So down on my knees i went.

But sure I knew it would be fruitless. I'd just vacuumed the place. I try to keep it tidy so I can find dropped pieces quickly. But it's too big to not notice it, had i sucked it up unknowingly yesterday. And it has been 2 weeks since i held the front legs last, so I don't know when it went missing…. Argh!

I felt upset with myself for missing a piece. Now I was faced with double work, i.e. make a new front leg. But then I got a brainwave, and smiled. Because maybe, you know, maybe a one legged man had come along and decided he could do with 2 legs??? In theory it's theft but I prefer this explanation because it makes me smile to know i helped this man to walk again, and even run?!

Have fun making mini's,

Lot's of pictures to tell a thousand words

As promised i'd show you what the caning was all about; it will become the seat of a regency library chair. It's a chair you can flip open to turn into a little step. So you can reach the books on the highest shelfs.

 

Here's the original i'm reproducing. A pretty early one made by Morgan and Sanders in 1815

Lot's of sketching and calculations at the kitchen table.

And then off to the workshop, where my heater can barely keep away the frost. I'd run into bad luck when the only router bit that suited to do the ornamental lines broke while i was setting up my mill so i turned to these little carvers to make the grooves by hand.

I made dowels using a draw plate so all the joints are reinforced.

All these little pieces fit together like a puzzle to form the top part. That's now halfway done.

It still needs 2 back splash pieces, but because they are bend they require a little more drying through.

In the meantime i plan to continue on the lower part of the chair this weekend. Hope you enjoy your miniatures too this weekend,

taking the first few steps

Last week i've started on a new piece of furniture. The fun for me is always in the research and this time, again, no exception. I've read all i could find on this dynamic piece of furniture. Not a lot are left in the world, only around 400 they guess. And only made for a relatively short time. First patented in 1774, it became popular from the early 18 hundreds on, for about 20 years. Unfortunately, it turned out to be less practical then it first appeared to be. And rather unsafe too, which, you could say, contributed to its decline. Still it made a nice conversation object. And therefor pretty neat to go for in miniature.

Only 2 rather crude drawings exist from that era, making it a challenge to translate it to paper and draw out a plan. I spend a good deal of time studying similar pieces of furniture, sketching and calculating. Also useful was methodically examining the few pictures (and sparse measurements) of it, that antique dealers have put on the net. It all helped me to come up with a good woodworking plan.

I had to test a few things too, before building could start. Could i find the proper wood? Could i make hinges, that are really narrow yet strong enough? And could i get canning down to scale? And here's the test on the caning.

I've used dental floss (which is flat just like wicker) and gradually went down in hole distance to see what would work best, in combination with the floss. Ordinary thread just doesn't look right to be wicker but I was worried the floss would be too wide. And to me it feels it is, just a little. The smallest hole distance in this test comes closest to wicker in scale, but it could even be smaller, if i wasn't limited by the size of the floss. To prevent it from blocking all up i settled for what it looks like now:

I'm happy with the result, and it gave me the opportunity to learn from the little weaving mistakes i'd made on the first run. I rummaged my wood stock and found the perfect piece to represent mahogany too. And even the hinges turned out strong enough to hold.

The other day I've started on the actual build…  and above is the first piece of many more to come.

Hope you enjoyed reading. Maybe you wonder what it actually will going to be. Or perhaps you've figured it out already?