Beadwork Progress Has Slowed Down

I was zipping along on Beadwork until we went off to another Windsor chair class in West Virginia. I brought Beadwork along but I was too tired in the evenings to knit a stitch. Since I last posted I picked up the sleeves and completed the decreases. Now I just need to continue knitting down to the cuff then put the body stitches back on the needles and continue knitting.



I took a Windsor chair class last year with Vanessa. This year we went back to West Virginia and Charles Boland's workshop, Storybook Joinery, where we each made a Nantucket Windsor Fanback rocker. The class was a full six days. We loved every minute of it! (Except for the part where I got a ticket for speeding and having expired tags.) Besides the class we enjoyed seeing Sherry (Charles' wife) and their golden retriever Maggie. One night Charles cooked a delicious seafood stew for us. As you can see the Boland house is filled with his beautiful creations including the dining room table.



Here are our finished chairs. My chair is on the left and Vanessa's is on the right. Charles is in the center without rockers.


Some highlights from the class.

The crest is steam bent red oak with the crest ears hand carved with volutes.



The oval shaped seat was created from a solid piece of 2-inch thick clear white pine. The seat was saddled by hewing with a hollowing adze, and then finished with a scorp, compass plane, travisher, spokeshave and a scraper. This picture also shows the tail piece that was installed via a mortise and tenon. The back spindles are installed into the tail piece to provide extra strength for the backrest.





Here the legs and stretchers are installed. The legs penetrate the seat and are wedged securely in place through a tenon joint. The holes are drilled using sightlines to bore compound-angle leg mortises.


Everything else is maple with the exception of the arms that are poplar. The arms have hand carved knuckles and volutes. I affectionately renamed the knuckles to Maggie Paws as a tribute to Maggie the Boland's golden retriever.



See Vanessa's blog for a more complete description of the workshop.

The next project for me will be a Windsor Sackback Settee like this one.



If you ever have an opportunity to take a class from Charles DO IT you won't regret it. He is very patient and willing to share his vast knowledge of his craft with you.