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Today I was able to get back in the shop and focus on this chair that has been lingering for some time now. What spurred this, is we need money. My oldest daughter who is in her senior year of college is going to be heading out next summer on missionary work overseas. So hopefully I'll be a little busy in the old shop over the next 10 months or so earning some extra funds to help pay for this big trip. She is giving violin lessons as well to pay her way, but I want to help her.

We are very excited for her, yet at the same time apprehensive, the nations they are talking about going to aren't the most pleasant nations, but most locations that missionaries go too aren't, otherwise their wouldn't be a need.

 

So, once I finish the chair, it'll go either to two locations, if the students get a fundraising auction together I'll donate the chair to the auction, if not, I'll sell it, and move on to another.

 

Today I worked on the seat. You'll see just a few of the things needed for seat weaving in the image below. A chair that needs a seat of course. Scissors for cutting the tape and filling, No.3 upholstery nails, and a shuttle to feed the tape through while weaving the woof (explanation to follow)

 

 

So in seat weaving there are two facets to weaving, and they are obvious, you need to weave from back to front first, and then cross weave from side to side last. For square shaped seats it may not matter, but it is tradition to weave front to back first, then side to side in any checkerboard, herringbone and diamond pattern weave. Please see a couple definitions below.

 

• Warp - The WARP is one length of tape wrapped around the seat rails from front to back.
• Woof - The WOOF is one length of tape wrapped around the seat rails from side to side and woven under and over the warp in a checkerboard, herringbone or diamond pattern.

 

To start the Warp one end is placed at the back inside corner of the side rail, and nailed in place.

 

 

I first set the No.3 nail with a slight tap of a small hammer as I had in image above. Then with a pair of channel locks I squeeze the nail in place, instead of hammering it in place. Some folks will hammer the nail in place but I like the method of squeezing it in place, I'd rather not beat on the chair if I don't have too.

 

 

After the first nail is in place, I simply feed the roll of tape over and under the back and front seat rungs, this is the easiest and quickest portion of this job, since we don't have to be concerned about actually weaving, just wrapping, it goes quick.

 

 

In image below the Warp is in loosely.

 

 

You may notice my seat rungs are not finished, that was on purpose, unfinished seat rungs tend to grip the fabric tape more, and hold it in place.

You'll see in image below I measured the distance from the front leg to the tape, and I'll make sure the distance is the same on the other side as well.

 

 

So we have about 2 5/8" on both sides, close enough for this work.

 

 

After grabbing each and every Warp and giving it a firm pull to tighten them up, I clamped the last front Warp to the front seat rung, to hold it in place while I nail off the last Warp to the other side seat rung.

 

 

All tightened up and nailed off.

 

 

Next I fit and cut to size the batten for the seat cushion. In the old days they used feather filled pillows. Some folks still use a pillow filled with their choice of softness, I am using polyester fill batten from JoAnne's Fabric. I have seen other weavers use small already made pillows available at JoAnne's Fabric as well, my next chair I will use the pillow, I like the idea of the pillow. The book I read to learn how to build these chairs by Kerry Peirce, he uses the method I am using, so being the student, I just followed his example.

 

 

After I sized the batten, I stuffed it carefully between the Warp.

 

 

There it is, all in place. Once the Woof is woven, you won't see hide nor hair of the batten, it will be locked in place and hidden.

 

 

So tomorrow I plan on getting the side areas filled in for the Warp weave, they have to be separate strips cut to length, and then nailed in place to fill in the side triangle areas, then I can start weaving the Woof.

 

Here is an interesting tidbit of word play.

Quote

The essential foundation or base of any structure or organization; from weaving, in which the warp — the threads that run lengthwise — and the woof — the threads that run across — make up the fabric: “The Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are the warp and woof of the American nation.”

Source: Warp and Woof

 

EDIT 11-11-19: See the continuation of this seat process at the REPLY.

 

Interesting how this is done.  I remember weaving old aluminum patio chair seats with my Grandfather.  The parties got a little wild and they tended to have cigarette burns through the nylon? weaving.  

4 minutes ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Interesting how this is done.  I remember weaving old aluminum patio chair seats with my Grandfather.  The parties got a little wild and they tended to have cigarette burns through the nylon? weaving.  

Same thing Gunny!

1 minute ago, John Morris said:

Same thing Gunny!

Yeah well they left me alone to do this one time.  I mixed the yellow with white stripes with the Purple with yellow stripes with the Pink with blue and white crisscrossed them and all that.  Looked like a kaleidoscope on a acid trip.  My Grandmother had a fit about it, Granddaddy, he died laughing and never did change them.  My Mother went ballistic when Dad laughed and told her they looked great.  Life kinda works like that.

 Looks good John. Where do you find your tape, local or online?

Glad to see you back on this project John - and for a good cause to boot.

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of this is done.

Happy that you can get back at it. Hope it goes to auction and brings bucket loads of cash.

Edited November 3, 20196 yr by Gene Howe

1 hour ago, DuckSoup said:

 Looks good John. Where do you find your tape, local or online?

Thanks Bob, here is where I purchase my tape from.

Shaker Chair Tape

WWW.SHAKERWORKSHOPS.COM

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Copyright © 2019, Shaker Workshops

 

1 hour ago, Cal said:

Glad to see you back on this project John - and for a good cause to boot.

Looking forward to seeing how the rest of this is done.

Thanks a ton Cal, a good cause indeed!

3 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Hope it goes to auction and brings bucket loads of cash

Me too Gene, we are happy for our kid, but man, I thought when the kids got older and started spreading their wings, our lives would become less complex. But we have a daughter in the Army now, and one getting ready to leave to possible dangerous lands for her missionary work, my brain is getting ready to explode!

Looking good John.  Happy to see you back at it.  Best therapy you've had so far.  Am I right?

5 minutes ago, HandyDan said:

Looking good John.  Happy to see you back at it.  Best therapy you've had so far.  Am I right?

Most definitely you are right! Thanks Dan.

 

Turning out nice..

8 minutes ago, BillyJack said:

Turning out nice..

Hey thanks Jack!!!!

Gonna be a beauty! I love the grain in that maple!

Following!!! This is interesting!!

Looking good!! 

John you definitely have the patience of Job. Love the PIP and the char looks good to boot.

Thanks Lew, Larry and Gerald, I thought I'd get out in the shop yesterday and get the seat done but we had fun things to do yesterday, and it just didn't work out. This coming Friday I should have it squared away and finished, stay tuned!

Continuing on with the Warp (front to back) taping of this chair, because the seat is wider at the front than it is at the rear, empty "triangles" appear at each side of the seat where the Warp did not cover from the initial wrapping.

 

I figured I better put a blanket down now, since the chair is going to be flipped over and over and I wanted to avoid any scratches.

 

 

You can see the empty areas at both sides of the seat where the Warp did not cover.

 

 

 

So what we'll need to do then is piece in those triangle areas with separate Warp's of tape. Tacking one end starting at the rear of the seat then flipping the chair over and tacking it off at the bottom as far back as we can go. There really are no rules here, you just set the tape by the next row of tape as close as possible, and tack it off till the triangles are filled in.

 

The top

 

 

 

The bottom

 

 

 

The top

 

 

The top again

 

 

Bottom

 

 

Continue this process on both sides of the seat at top and bottom, till you have a Warp that is completely filled in.

 

 

 

Now with our Warp filled in we can start the Woof of the weave. We are heading out the door soon to catch a movie for our Veterans Day outing, when I get in later, I'll complete this little tutorial and we are done! Because the chair is done! I just need to post images and text, thanks all for following along!

 

 

 

 

 Thanks John, that clears things up.