folk chair

[Sean Hughto]

I liked windsor chairs from the time I was kid going to antique auctions with my parents. I can remember some arrowback buttermilk blue farm table chairs I saw once quite vividly. So when I took up woodworking, I always kinda thought someday I'd like to make some chairs. I quickly learned that chairs were one of the harder things to make, but I kept trying to build skills and amass the proper tools. Well, I recently completed my shave horse, and have been learning my lathe for a couple years, and figured it's time to jump in. John Brown's little Welsh Stick chairs book was a great inspiration, and I decided to start with my own version of a stick chair - a kind of naive windsor, if you will. I don't aspire to make reproductions, but instead to follow my own whims in the context of windsor building methods. Anyway, below are a couple pictures of my first effort - a low back stick chair finished with milk paint and BLO. The spindles are osage orange. I didn't use a plan at all. Indeed, I just kept using my body for reference, and doping out the shapes and angles. It's decently comfortable. I made a ton or rookie mistakes along the way. But in the end, it's very satisfying to sit your own chair, and I encourage any one drawn to chairs, to give it a go.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6012/6019143135_1bd4b3d62c_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6138/6019694638_7384d19b4b_b.jpg

[Paul McGaha]

I like them Sean and I'm sure it is very satisfying.

PHM

[David Myers]

Nice job, Sean. It looks inviting, and your models look comfortable too.

[Sean Hughto]

Thanks to you both. I'm happy with it for a first effort. As with most things, the next ones will be better.

My collages are intended to just show multiple angles. I probably shouldn't do that because it tends to fool people into thinking there are multiple objects. To be clear, it's just one chair. Indeed, given its style and my chair-newb status, it would be well nigh impossible for me to make a second that was anything more than vaguely similar. ;-)

[Mark Dorman]

I Love it; awesome job Sean. One detail (of many) that caught my eye is it looks like the arm shape is mimicked in the seat. Technically it may be a chair but you have a conversation peace there.

[john brenton]

I noticed that too. Cool idea. I think it looks cartoony, which to me is a good thing. I like it.
I Love it; awesome job Sean. One detail (of many) that caught my eye is it looks like the arm shape is mimicked in the seat. Technically it may be a chair but you have a conversation peace there.

[Jim Koepke]

Great chair.

Kind of like a whimsical Captain's chair.

If that is your daughter in one of the pics, she has a look like she wants that chair to be hers.

jtk

[Sean Hughto]

Thanks, Mark. Yeah, I added a small carved detail at the front of the seat that echos the turned out rounded ends of the bow.

[Sean Hughto]

Someone else remarked to me that it looked Disney-esque (which I take to mean cartoony too). I never thought of it that way at all when making it, but I see what you're referring to now that you say it. Funny that.

[Sean Hughto]

Yeah, I've heard low backs similar in basic form to this called captains chairs, smoking shairs, and library chairs. What's in a name, eh?

[Joe Bailey]

A very nice, functional piece of art. Good for you for jumping in. I'm sure you have inspired many.

[Prashun Patel]

I like this (like all yr stuff). I'm interested in how you scoop the seat. That's always a fun but tiring part of the construction for me.

I also HUMBLY submit that you might be able to (if this is at all a goal) dial down the Disney by applying a brown glaze. On milk paint, that's had a faux antique effect for me. Anyway, one man's 'Disney' is another man's 'Gaudi'.

I'm fond of the bulges on the spindles; I haven't seen that before.

[Mike Null]

Gaudi....that's exactly what I thought when I first looked at it. My compliments--very nice work and original.

[Sean Hughto]

Thanks, Prashun. I appreciate the Gaudi reference, as that's far more in line with what I was thinking as I made it - naturalistic etc.

I bring a lot of tools to bear on the scooping. I used an Ashley Iles scorp - some gouges -a nd most helpful my travisher from this fellow:
http://travisher.com/
I have a couple other styles of travisher and find this one BY FAR the best to use.

As far as the Disney - It really doesn't read like that as much in person. I dragged it out into the sun for the pictures and that saturated the colors. Up close, there is a lot more subtlety - I burnished through several area (especially edges) that already give it some "antiquing" I also don't think the oil had quite dried when I took the pics, so it looks shinier in these shots than now. And the osage will settle down with time too - more orange brown.

I'm learning that chairs, like bowls, are difficult to capture in a photo. The loss of the third dimension flattens them out so that they really read very differently than in person.

[Sean Hughto]

Thanks, Mike. I was aware of Gaudi's cathedral, but your and Prashun's comment caused me to go read the Wiki entry to learn more. Very interesting. Thanks for steering me to learn about him.

[Sean Hughto]

Thanks, Joe. That's very kind.

[Sean Hughto]

Here's a pic when a few steps before finishing to give you an idea of how much the paint alone adds to the cartoon aspect (for what it may be worth):
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6016/5995909060_6c16bd8dc6_b.jpg

I wanted to paint it as a way of bringin most to the pieces together as a unit. At least that's what I was thinking at the time.

[Bob Glenn]

You sir, have an imagination. Nice.

[Sean Hughto]

Thanks, Bob.

I agree about the sandpaper.

[Jim Neeley]

Looks good, Sean.. I like it!! :-)

[mike holden]

Sean,
Those are very nice chairs, Congratulations!
Mike

[James Taglienti]

Very cool, i like the carving around the seat, and the stretchers. It must have been difficult to make those forms but it sure paid off. I would like a little less symmetry in the spindles but then again its not my chair!

[Chris Griggs]

That is such a cool chair - truly a great display of artistic talent and craftsmanship.... and even more importantly, it's a useful quite comfortable looking piece of furniture. I wish more folks would post threads here of what they've built, there's just so many talented folks here and it is always inspiring to see what can be created.

[Sean Hughto]

James, thanks. I'm not sure what you mean about symmetry? Do you mean in each spindle itself, or in their placement around the seat/bow, or something else? I made about twice as many spindles as I used. Some, like the two innermost ones are the arms, were very free form. When I put all those together, it looked somewhat cluttered and busy to my eye. None of the ones I included are anything like identical, though the back ones are all roughly diamonds, and the front two are similar-ish cresents. I made everything without patterns and tried to just trust my eyes - it's sort of a rough symmetry, but hardly a perfect one.

[Sean Hughto]

You're very nice, Chris. It's a first effort. I'm glad to have begun my chairmaking oddessy, but I definitely have a long way to go.

I agree that I would love more project threads. After a number of years on the ww'ing boards, plane and sharpening stone threads are not nearly as interesting to me as seeing other folks stuff - I'm always inspired by their efforts and enjoy the sharing immensely.

[James Taglienti]

I was referring to the individual spindles like the two front ones look identical but if you made them free form they must be a bit different, probably would be more apparent in person... Its an inspiring chair either way

[Harlan Barnhart]

... None of the ones I included are anything like identical... I made everything without patterns and tried to just trust my eyes - it's sort of a rough symmetry, but hardly a perfect one. That's what I like the most about your chair Sean. That's where the character comes in. It looks like it was made by a human, not a machine. I've been thinking of making some chairs. This is going in my "inspiration bank".

[Sean Hughto]

Thanks, Harlan. Come on in, the water is fine.

Chairmaking is fun and satisfying - though also a tad frustrating at times - drilling those angles and lining 'em up is no cakewalk (at least for me).

I can't wait to see yours!