h3nry Posted September 26, 2014 Report Share Posted September 26, 2014 This was supposed to be a quick project to make a simple footstool ... but it didn't end up like that at all. I didn't intent to make it out an unfamiliar wood, but that board of Jatoba in the corner of the lumberyard just looked so pretty. I wanted to go out of my comfort-zone a little by making it with lots of curves. I knew I wanted something with the X-leg design. But other than that I didn't have any plans, just winging the design as I went along - that took me way out of my comfort-zone too. What possessed me to try my hand at carving it I have no idea - way way out of my comfort zone. I blame Marc for his video on the spiral, and when that worked out well I stumbled across a video by Charles Niel where he made carving a rosette look easy. It has been suggested that I didn't make life easy for myself by choosing Jatoba as the wood for my introduction to carving. And finally I had no idea what I was doing with the upholstery - It doesn't even involve wood ...way way way out of my comfort zone. Again youtube gave me a few hints as to how to go about it - although those decorative nails are a beast to hammer in straight.. But the end result ... fairly stylish and comfortable, very comfortable, a new definition for the "comfort zone". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tpt life Posted September 26, 2014 Report Share Posted September 26, 2014 Very nice Henry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardA Posted September 26, 2014 Report Share Posted September 26, 2014 Nicely done... not my style but nicely done..... And I like the carpet on your shop floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted September 27, 2014 Report Share Posted September 27, 2014 Looks pretty comfortable to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..Kev Posted September 28, 2014 Report Share Posted September 28, 2014 Interesting design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrdie Posted September 28, 2014 Report Share Posted September 28, 2014 Talk about diving into the deep end from the high dive. Nice result, especially considering the number of "firsts" involved. Like the detail on the stretcher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phinds Posted September 29, 2014 Report Share Posted September 29, 2014 It has been suggested that I didn't make life easy for myself by choosing Jatoba as the wood for my introduction to carving. Boy, howdy, you got THAT right. Very impresive result, especially considering it's jatoba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bombarde16 Posted September 29, 2014 Report Share Posted September 29, 2014 The question now is, will you retreat from carving, curves and upholstery or continue even further down the rabbit hole? Once you start to carve a surface, there's really no place to stop until the whole piece is carved. The legs and rosettes are lovely but, to my eye, make the corners of the seat seem plain and stocky in comparison. The overall shape of the legs suggests a crossed pair of violin F-holes. Again, to my eye, things would be more elegant if the leg pieces had the same gradual curve along their entire length as an F-hole. Did you take any other pictures during the upholstering? That's something that scares lots of us and I know there'd be interest in seeing that process in detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h3nry Posted September 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted September 30, 2014 The question now is, will you retreat from carving, curves and upholstery or continue even further down the rabbit hole? Once you start to carve a surface, there's really no place to stop until the whole piece is carved. The legs and rosettes are lovely but, to my eye, make the corners of the seat seem plain and stocky in comparison. The overall shape of the legs suggests a crossed pair of violin F-holes. Again, to my eye, things would be more elegant if the leg pieces had the same gradual curve along their entire length as an F-hole. Did you take any other pictures during the upholstering? That's something that scares lots of us and I know there'd be interest in seeing that process in detail. You nailed it there Rob! Of all the rabbit holes I poked into with this piece, the one I'll take most slowly is the "winging-it" without a proper design, as you pointed out there's lots of places the design could have been improved, and I'd be much happier working that out before saws start biting into expensive wood. Mixing curves and straight-lines - as you said needs more time thinking about the design too before leaping in. The carving is something that I'll definitely try again, but I do want to stop before carving the whole thing. Again that means spending time in the design phase to get some pleasing carved accents. Upholstery is definitely another skill. My biggest fear with it was that I might not have left enough wood in the frame to attach all the webbing and fabric needed. It wasn't easy to find pictures of wooden frames that are to be partially covered with upholstery, but with the upholstery removed so that you can see how the frame was built. To me the biggest problem with upholstered furniture is that the end result needs to be both comfortable and strong enough for people to "flop" down onto, which again means going back to the design phase to make sure you get it right. I'm afraid I'm very bad about taking pictures mid-build so you've got them all. The hard brittle Jatoba wood was not only a bad choice to make the carving easy, but also not a good choice to be upholstered since there's an awful lot of little tacks and nails that need hammering in. I had to pre-drill for all the tacks holding the webbing in, and then I bent so many of the delicate finishing nails trying to knock them into the hard wood. This one was definitely high up for learning experiences, and I expect they'll all get used again in the future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.