Today my cousin brought me an old rocking chair that belonged to my great grandmother. I was delighted! We estimated that it dated from about 1870. It's a very small piece of furniture and needs to be refinished. As you can tell by the photo, it needs a lot of work. I'll begin with a good scrubbing and then decide about the finish. Fortunately, my cousin took care of any necessary repairs.
Then comes the fun part--replacing all the fabric. I'm looking forward to finding just the right upholstery material. The seat is comprised entirely of cloth, so the fabric needs to be sturdy. Every bit of it is sewn by hand. When I looked closely, the hand construction explained how the top was fitted around the spindles. There are tabs between the spindles attaching the back and front cushion.
The fabric seat--also attached by hand stitching--was simply run around the rods and neatly attached underneath. I love the bent wood construction. This wee rocker is ideal for sewing and all manner of needlework. It's difficult to knit, darn, and quilt in chairs with high arms. My elbows bump into the wood.
Reviving old projects seems to apply to my writing too. Apparently, I have a rescue gene.
When a news reporter talked about the impact of inflation on the American economy and it was reminiscent of the 1980s, I dragged out a manuscript that has nearly been published four times. Twice by university presses. Something clicked. This manuscript would have great marketing potential right now. It falls into the historical novel category and deals with issues that are emerging again. Wow. Some of my best research was done on the disastrous savings and loan crisis in rural communities. Bank failures in small towns were devasting.
As I mentioned in my previous blog, when I reread a short story that my husband and agent disliked, I decided they were both wrong and sent it to Ellery Queen and they bought it immediately. I've had awfully good luck with short stories and don't have a backlog. Nor do I write them regularly. Once in a while I have a good idea and it perks in back of my mind until I sit down and write it.
However, I have another historical novel that I would like to revive. The background is that of the frontier Catholic Church. I'm a better writer now and I suspect if I will do the work, it can be brought back to life.
My brand new mystery is going reasonably well and my agent wants it accompanied by a synopsis of a following book. I loved Doug Skelton's recent post. It really is a matter of buckling down and getting to work.
Have a great rest of the year everyone.
7 comments:
Charlotte, that chair is beautiful! I'm a hopeless lover and occasional restorer of vintage furniture, and just looking at it makes me happy. What a blessing to have such a piece that is lovely in itself and loaded with family memories. Please show us the chair after it is restored. Old chairs, old manuscripts, old ideas for stories are not to be abandoned, are they?
Hi Anna--the chair is really dirty. This is not a valuable antique. It was probably "home made." I welcome any suggestions on cleaning it up and restoring it. Right now, the advice that makes the most sense to me is a mild solution of soap and water wiping it immediately so the water doesn't soak into the wood. Then what? I'm considering tung oil. What do you think?
Charlotte, I consulted my son, who has far more experience with wood than I. Here is his reply:
Murphy [Oil Soap] is a good first step to get it clean. Have her test in an inconspicuous place to make sure it doesn't damage the finish. Less is more. Tung oil is unnecessary unless the finish is already in horrible shape, which is a whole other problem. I would generally recommend a thin layer of paste wax. Minwax is a good brand and widely available. The regular "Paste Finishing Wax" is fine, and she can use the "Special Dark" version if the chair is a medium to dark brown.
My apologies for hijacking the blog; I would have sent a private message if I had found somewhere to do it. Good luck!
Two things…
First, Anna, in the right hand column of this blog below all the author photos are "quick hit" bios. Charlotte's website is listed there (as are everyone else's. If you go to her site, the contact page is listed on the far right of the menu bar. I know it's a bit convoluted, but that's the best we can do. If we list authors' email addresses anywhere on the blog, they run the risk (probably for certain) of them getting harvested by spammers. I should know. This happened to me many years ago to the point where I had to take my website down temporarily and will need to get a new URL because my website email addresses were used so widely. In other words, my website has been "blackholes" by whatever WWW committee supervises those things.
Second, thank you for being such a loyal reader and commenter! It is much appreciated.
Charlotte,
That lovely rocker looks well worth refinishing.
Having done my fair share of that, once you clean it up and do any sanding, it looks like it may need some help with color. If you do decide to apply some stain (after a thorough sanding using multiple grits), take it from someone who's made the mistake: go darker with your stain choice!
And I agree with Anna, let's see the finished project photos!
Charlotte, I consulted my son, who is far more experienced with wood than I. Here is what he said:
Murphy [Oil Soap] is a good first step to get it clean. Have her test in an inconspicuous place to make sure it doesn't damage the finish. Less is more. Tung oil is unnecessary unless the finish is already in horrible shape, which is a whole other problem. I would generally recommend a thin layer of paste wax. Minwax is a good brand and widely available. The regular "Paste Finishing Wax" is fine, and she can use the "Special Dark" version if the chair is a medium to dark brown.
(I thought I'd sent this earlier; evidently not. Too enthusiastic, probably.) Hope this helps.
Rick and Anna. Thank you both so much for comments and advice on restoring and refinishing this rocker. Anna--as to your son's suggestion about Murphy Oil Soap. My cousin mentioned this too. I think I'll try it. Grime is the best word to describe the finish at this point. Despite its lovely lines, the rod in front and the graceful bent piece of wood are bolted together. With iron bolts. That's why I've said this is undoubtedly homemade rather than a valuable antique. There's no shine to it, no finish to damage. I'll see what it looks like after I've cleaned it up.
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