Bar Stool Beauties

Now, here's a really beautiful pair of bar chairs. I consider these two young ladies to be of a category I call "art" fabrications. Antiqued wrought iron bases, swivel frames, high-glossed contour seats and backs all hand painted. These identical twins are the same, but at the same time different, albeit they probably were products of a larger fabrication effort.

 
 They came to the shop because the high-gloss finished decor was separating from a laminated wood foundation. Their surface was coming loose, flaking and then coming apart in places--a huge disappointment to our customer! The kind of crazing in the surface, something my customer and I discussed in the initial evaluation process, probably does suggest it's likely there will be more deterioration in their future. But hey, that happens to all of us with time....right!  So, despite that possibility (or likelihood), our customer wanted to have us do the repair where the flaking and loss has obviously developed to spoil and threaten the surfaces. 

Long story short: these two beauties are effectively without any obvious blemishes again.  The repair effort was not an easy one. Quickly into the process it became very obvious why the separation had taken place, and a repair in one spot often meant a need for the same repair in the immediately adjacent area too. Whew...a lot of careful, nervous work! I think we came close to mastering the process and the technique of the original artisan for color and patina...with some modest exceptions. So now they are the unchallenged beauties in our modest shop, strutting their stuff while they patiently anticipate re-occupying their esteemed places back home.

That's Wood Talkin....have you learned how to listen?

Dick

Art Deco Medly

Here are some pictures of the Art Deco bedroom suite I promised to show you. Check it out.

That's Wood Talkin....keep listening. 
Thanks

She is Going Home

Compare this picture, taken in our customer's home, to the one we posted last week. Wow! We re-glued several internal structural members and also some drawer joints. We repaired the mirror's crown (it was broken into five pieces) and we gently cleaned and re-oiled the dresser's finish surfaces. She gleams again, but all the "refinements" of her 175 plus years are still there.

What you see taped to the mirror, for our customer's review and discovery: a small hand-forged (square) mirror nail and a small antique cloth pin we found suspended inside the dresser's frame. We left several very old buttons in the dresser's glove drawers--also for our customer to find and relish.

Beautiful...as any refined lady should be

That's Wood Talkin for today...keep listening.

175 Years of Sophistication and Beauty

This beauty came into the Wood Talkin shop last week. Our customer's goal is to enhance her finish, so we engaged some careful discussion around what that meant to her, the impact of any effort on the value of this fine piece of art, and our customer's long-term plans for this piece.

Everything about this old beauty says "art." From her drawers' hand-scribed dovetail joints, autographed frame, deeply worn drawer slides, square hand-forged nails, cast iron and porcelain castors, rough sawn internal and back-closure pieces...we conclude that she is pre-1840, and probably 1820-1830.

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This was a square weight bearing side of the drawer slide worn convex through 175 years!

Four (count them!) hand scribed and then cut dovetail joints on each drawer. Can you see the scribe marks?

Art Deco

This pretty little Art Deco vanity came to us with a matching vanity chair, bed headboard and footboard and a five drawer dresser. It's a really fun set. Our customer acquired these to offer her friends a guest room adventure when they come to her home for an overnight stay.

The set turned out really well. Among some other things it was "heard" to say, "It's so wonderful to look young again." Yes, they are so impressive when one enters that room for the very first time. I'll offer a picture of the entire set in a upcoming post.
That's Wood Talkin for tonight.

Where are the handles? I apologize that we did not get them into this picture. They were later cleaned and re-secured onto the drawer fronts. Manufactured in the 1930-40's, they were thin brass and plastic. Yes, plastic! At that time plastics were relatively fresh on the manufacturing scene; the latest thing. These were a streaming purple-ish color framed in yellow brass frames on each drawer. They really accented this little vanity---they made it POP!

Check out that wonderful, original, decorative tape. It's thematic throughout the set...on each piece!

Update: Lane and Boudoire

Well.... are these beauties or what? Take a look at them now. For the table, we fabricated a new drawer, a perimeter decorum strip, and a new brace system for those beautiful legs. She struts; a beautiful lady with a fresh new look....and a new lease on life. Can you say, CONFIDENCE?

The Lane chest glows with a new pride and fresh enthusiasm. We sensitively refreshed her exterior with lacquer, touched up her bumps and besides, filled in some lost veneer, and repaired the chest's withdrawing shelf and lid. Ahhh...smell that wonderful cedar aroma---unmistakable. She's good to go for another 70 years!
"Listen to the wood"...it's our favorite phrase. 

That's Wood Talkin for today. Do you listen?
Dick

A Gem In the Buff

This wonderful little boudoire table is of solid oak. She has been around the block a few times, and in the process she's been robbed. Her under-the-top drawer is gone and a decorative brace that secured those elegant French Provincial legs has similarly been lost.

We'll be collaborating with our customer and see how much of this dressed down little lady we can help toward a modest rebirth....and the beauty she previously possessed.


That's Wood Talkin for now. Please keep listening.
Dick