Chris and I have been as busy as Santa’s elves over the past few months, building all manner of chairs. A month or two ago, faced with the dilemma of wanting to build more chairs but already having a through-the-roof “chair-per-capita” count in our homes, we thought we’d put together a little show and sale at one of the Lost Art Press Open Houses – and this weekend is the one!
To further entice your presence at the show, here are some of the chairs that I’ll have in the show. With the holiday season approaching, we thought we’d combine a gallery-style show with a furniture sale – many of the pieces below will be for sale, as noted, and all will be available for examination and sitting!
Tage Frid inspired stool: This three-legged stool, in the style of Frid’s classic design, was my first chair, made while I was a student at The Krenov School (then the College of the Redwoods) from some lovely curly tanoak. It is not for sale – some lucky Arkansas-born anarchist has got it at his house and is kindly bringing it to the shop for this show.
Staked Dining Set: This four-piece set of white-oak staked furniture (two chairs, a bench and a table) were my first foray into staked furniture, with milk-painted accents and solid joinery. The set makes a nice breakfast nook setup, which had been its use in my house until I started down the rabbit hole of building far too many chairs. This set will be for sale, as a complete unit, for a handsomely low price.
Settin’ Chire: This greenwood ladderback chair was made in the style of Chester Cornett, with carved pegs, octagonal posts and rungs and a three-slat design, all made from green red oak from Eastern Kentucky earlier this year. It’s seat is woven with Danish cord in a plain weave. It will be for sale.
Jennie Chair: This Jennie (or “JA”) chair was built using white oak posts, rungs and slats that were salvaged from Jennie Alexander’s garage last month during our trip a few weeks ago. It has a simple Danish cord seat. I’m just finishing it up today and tomorrow, so this will be the newest piece from me in the show. This piece is not for sale.
Twin Bookmatched Stools: This pair of three-legged, braced-back stools made from a single slab of olive ash were just finished, with a unique bookmatched pair of slab seats. These are low stools, akin in seating style to the classic “cockfighting” stools popular in 19th-century Britain. They’ll be for sale as a set, it would a shame to split them up.
Five-legged Staked Chair: This is a new design that I came up with for my upcoming class at the storefront and at Port Townsend School of Woodworking later in 2019. It has a braced-back crest with flying supports akin to the bookmatched stools, and a massively sturdy five legged stance, made from some mighty red oak. It, too, will be for sale.
Høj Footstool: This simple footstool, made from red oak and Danish cord, is a blending of Danish modern and Appalachian post-and-rung styles, thus the name, “Høj,” a rural word in Denmark for a hill. This stool will be for sale at the show.
I’ll also be showing various projects and tools I’ve been working on, have a few other small items for sale and demonstrating some of the techniques used in the construction of these chairs. We’ll also have a variety of fun activities, including some “Chiremaker Crown” craft activities. And, a “Chairmaker’s Sighting Square” might just be getting raffled off…
So, I hope you can find the time to come join us!
Very nice work! Do you ship to Canada? (Just kidding)… Have a good show, and keep building beautiful chairs.
I will happily ship to Canada, if you don’t mind picking the furniture up here, making a crate for it and dropping it off with the post office. I’ll print the label! 🙂
What is Danish cord? And, where can one purchase some?
Danish cord is a paper product, made up of three twisted plies, which are themselves twisted to make a single strand. It can be found online (but don’t accidentally buy fiber rush – that stuff is only a single twisted strand, and not nearly as tough).
Thank you.
That’s a bunch of beautiful chairs. That Tage Fried-stool was particularly nice. Instant classic in my eyes! I’d love to see more photos of it. I’m wondering how the back is connected to the seat. Have a great show, wish I could be there!
Hey Klaus, you can find some more photos of the chair here: http://www.burn-heart.com/frid-stool/2yvlj93jp8be990yuyhtkgv5567drs
The back is dovetailed to the seat, which is how Frid designed it (though I threw a few more dovetails on it than he called for in his design.
That’s a beautiful stool.
Wouldn’t having the pins on the back piece instead of the seat make it less likely to work loose over time?
i believe it is designed that way so the dovetails hold when you lift the stool by its handle.
Oh yeah, that makes sense too.
Beautiful chairs. Wish I could make it there…
Do you still sell the metal French curves?
Virus-free. http://www.avg.com
Sterling Toolworks sells the metal curves. Crucible Tool sells the bamboo ones.
Lots of beautiful pieces here.
All of it looks really great but i am really drawn to the painted contrast on the dining set.
Agree with that! The little dining set is really gorgeous, and would be perfect for a small apartment dweller/student.
The Dining Set is still available (just saying!). $800 for the full four-piece set, free delivery within 120 miles.
Would anyone like to comment on how this went? I imagine this as the type of thing where dozens are lined up before the doors open and the chairs are all sold before the people at the end of the line even make it to the door. Any accuracy in that?
We had a lot of people – way more than usual. We sold a few chairs and a few books. The real point was to talk about chairs, try them out and explain how they are made. I thought it went great!
I enjoyed visiting Lost Art Press this last Saturday. My lasting memory of the visit was of great people engaged in doing their life’s work. After sitting in some chairs, perusing books and chatting up the local celebrities, I’ve concluded that repeat visits are my future.
Perchance, did the book matched stools survive the weekend?