Lost Art Press

The content management system at Core77 gobbled up a big chunk of text in my latest column, and I failed to notice it until last night. The missing chunk has been restored, and you can read the complete column here.

Or you can simply read the missing chunk right here. It’s pretty darn important. The text was a bulleted list that followed this paragraph:

When I enter into a freelance agreement with a supplier, I begin the conversation by saying: I’ve had some rough relationships with suppliers in the past, and I’d like to make sure I understand how your organization works so that I can give you exactly what you need. Then I work through this list:

• Is this “work for hire” or will I be working on a contract basis? If it’s “work for hire” then everything I produce belongs to the supplier in the end. With contract work, everything is negotiable, including who “owns” the final result. I do both kinds of work, but I charge more for work for hire.
• Will I receive a purchase order or written assignment? A purchase order or assignment tells me the scope of what I’m being asked to do. Sometimes it can be as casual as an email with a list of tasks. Sometimes it can be open-ended (“Write me a monthly blog about cat treats”). Other times it can have specs that have to be followed. I always prefer some sort of assignment or purchase order so that I can deliver what the supplier wants. But I’ll work without one if I trust the supplier.
• Do you require an invoice to issue payment? What tax information does your organization require? You would think the answers to these questions would be obvious, but every organization is different. Some require almost no information to pay you. Others want a tissue sample from your rear end. Early in my career, there were many instances I didn’t get paid because I hadn’t jumped through some hoop. “We haven’t processed your invoice because you haven’t sent us a W-9.” Or “We were waiting on your tax ID number to complete setting up your account.”
• How long does it take you to issue payment after the job is complete? Do not be afraid to ask this question. If someone tells me they pay in 90 days, I’m going to rethink whether I want this job. If they pay within seven days, I might be willing to work for a lower price. In either case, the answer to this question is critical because it tells you exactly when you should start complaining.
• Finally, I ask who I should talk to in the organization with accounting and billing questions. The person who is assigning you work might not deal with the bills. So if you complain to that person, you might be making work for them to act as an intermediary between you and the accounting department. Find out who the billing contact is so you can establish a relationship with that person, too.

 

You can now purchase laser-cut templates for the Staked Armchair from “The Anarchist’s Design Book: Expanded Edition” and they are available for immediate shipment. A set of templates is $43 and can be ordered here from our store.

The templates are a supplement to the instructions in “The Anarchist’s Design Book: Expanded Edition.” If you own the book, there is an entire chapter devoted to making your own templates with trammels and a ruler. In other words, you don’t have to own these templates to make the chair.

Why offer them? To remove one more barrier to you making a chair. The templates are laser cut from MDF (they are nicer than my personal set of templates) and contain all the important information you need to lay out your parts: the mortise locations, the sightlines, resultants and even the shape of the seat’s pommel. They are a shortcut. Plus they are a jumping-off point for developing your own designs for arms, crests and seats. When I develop a new chair, I usually begin with existing templates.

The templates are made by FirstLightWorks in Derbyshire in the U.K. Ed Sutton at FirstLightWorks took a chair class with me last year and developed these templates using my personal set. If you like in the U.K. or Europe, you can order the templates here through Classic Hand Tools.

Note that the templates are a supplement to the instructions in “The Anarchist’s Design Book: Expanded Edition.” If you are a beginning chairmaker, you will need the book to guide you through the construction process.

— Christopher Schwarz

You can read my final column at Core77 about how to get paid for your work via this link. Please note that the topic of this column and the fact that I won’t be writing there in the future have nothing to do with each other. Promise.

Rain Noe, my editor at Core77, has been fantastic. It’s been one of my best experiences as a freelancer. My column was cut, I’m told, for budget reasons.

The topic of my final column likely will not appeal to most of you. It’s about the strategies I use to make sure I get paid for my freelance and contract work – writing, designing and building. I’ve made a lot of mistakes, and this column might help you avoid a few scars.

Thanks to Rain and everyone at Core77 for hosting my writing (and paying me promptly) for the last 12 months.

— Christopher Schwarz

The class I’m most excited about this year at our storefront is with furniture maker and finisher John Porritt. During the class, April 6-10, students will build their interpretation of a Welsh backstool using authentic materials and methods. And they will finish their chairs to have an aged appearance, which should be a class in and of itself.

You might not have heard of John. I hope to change that. I first read about him years ago in Good Woodworking magazine when John Brown praised one of Porritt’s chairs alongside a photo of Porritt’s chair. Fast forward more than 20 years and, out of the blue, I received an invitation to visit Porritt in Upstate New York, where he lives after moving from the U.K. (Read about that encounter here.)

Porritt has spent his life immersed in the craft, building chairs and furniture using dead-traditional techniques with wood and branches he harvested himself. He is an undisputed expert in finishing, especially repairing and coloring antiques to look like they had never been messed with. He also avoids most high technology (his wife reads his emails to him), he plays a mean guitar and is an outstanding storyteller.

During his week at our storefront, Porritt will teach students to build their own interpretation of a Welsh backstool using material from his rural New York shop. And then he’ll delve into the finishing aspects of the stool, something we don’t get to do much of during project classes.

It should be a delightful week. And I hope to lure Porritt and the students to my favorite bluegrass night at a local bar.

We have a couple places still open in the class. If you have ever wanted to get a taste of traditional rural craft, Porritt is the real, real deal. And the finishing knowledge is an impressive bonus. It’s an aspect of finishing that I know little about and I’ll be right next to you, taking notes.

I hope you can join us.

— Christopher Schwarz

Read some more about Porritt’s finishing skills here. Read about some of the chairs in his collection here.