Sunday, October 30, 2011

Half the Size Twice the Fun



I have been toying around lately with the idea of small size chairs. I decided on a sack back at 50% of adult size. My kid size chairs are 2/3rds the size of adult so this makes this chair too small for human use. Great for dolls maybe or just art to sit on a table or hang from the ceiling. The chair is scaled exactly from an adult size. Every measurement is divided by 2. The joinery is all the same except I used straight tenons instead of tapered tenons. I even used the same tools on each process including the turnings. It is a great exercise for detail work and using hand tools. The top of the spindles are wedged at 3/16ths of an inch. No room for sloppy joinery here. The steam bending was easy and only took 25 minutes in the steamer. Overall I like the result and look forward to trying several different styles. I will take these to the spring TACA craft fair in Nashville to see if they sale. Those fancy dolls need somewhere to rest.
Recently I had Matt here for a Comb Back rocker class. This is the first time I have ever had a student complete the chair of this degree of difficulty in 5 days. This is the first windsor he has built which he completed for his wife who is due their first child in November. Very impressive even if he had stayed late but done in 8 hour days. Matt, you are going to be a great dad.

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