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N.B. All photos are thumbnails. The larger versions are hosted on Flickr, a very
useful photosharing site. If you click on any of them, you'll be able to see the large version
on Flickr.
There's no particular logic to the way this page is laid out - I just add photos when I
find them.
N.B. These chairs are not for sale. They are mostly customers' chairs, which
have come through our workshop for reseating. They are illustrated here purely because
they're interesting, and you may find one just like yours!
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DANISH CORD CHAIR
These elegant chairs are seated with Danish cord, which is made from
tightly twisted kraft paper, making a very strong seat. The weave pattern is traditional and
is held on under the seat by a series of small L-shaped nails.
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CHUNKY RUSH CHAIR
One of a set of fairly modern dining chairs with rush seats
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DIFFERENT RUSH PATTERN
Seats like this, which are longer front-to-back than side-to-side, need a variation in the
pattern or else the 'bridge' section in the middle tends to go front-to-back rather than
side-to-side, making the seat a bit uncomfortable. In this case several unwoven wraps have
been created at the front and back, and then the rush itself goes back in steps of 2 strands
at a time, making a very attractive pattern.
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BALLOON BACKED CHAIRS
A pair of nice, straightforward bedroom chairs with balloon backs.
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CHAIR WITH SUNRISE BACK
A very attractive chair with caned seat and sunrise back.
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STOOL WITH SEAGRASS SEAT IN ZIGZAG PATTERN
An original pattern by Ally for either seagrass or cotton cord.
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UPHOLSTERED CHAIR WITH CANED BACK IN SUNSET PATTERN
Delightful little chair that was a joint effort between Simon Ireland of Keswick, who did the
upholstery, and me.
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SPINDLE BACKED RUSH CHAIR
An elegantly proportioned rush carver. This one is genuinely old, as opposed to a lot of rush
chairs that come through the workshop, with artificially aged wood.
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SMALL CANED ROCKER
Unusual little rocking chair with caned back and seat.
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RUSH ROCKING CHAIR
Here's my mum's favourite teddy bear, sitting on an attractive rush rocking chair I reseated
a few years ago.
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OVAL BACK
Just a nice satisfying oval caned back.
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WHITE CANE CHAIR
A classic bentwood chair with caned seat, painted white.
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CANE BACKED FIRESIDE CHAIR
Getting her favourite chair restored was a 90th birthday present for the customer's mother.
I
did the back and Mr Rumney at Prospect made a new comfy cushion for her.
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CANING A CURVED SEAT
The first 2 stages are complete - the first horizontals and verticals. When doing a curved
seat or back, start with the strands that will be straight - in this case, the horizontals. Then
place the verticals underneath them, to preserve the curve.
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ANTIQUE CHAIR (1)
At one point in history the fashion for chairs with tall backs became quite silly. I believe they
got much higher even than this one!
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ANTIQUE CHAIR (2)
This is the neighbour of the other, similar chair. They're not the same, but came from the
same house. BB, the cat, tried to help, but tended more to get in the way. Sadly she's now
getting under the feet of the angelelic seat weavers....
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MEDALLION BACKED CANE CHAIR
This is one of a set that came into our workshop a few years ago. They're quite complicated
to do, as of course the medallion falls out when you remove the old caning. Not a job for a
beginner, but great fun for a more experienced caner.
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HANDMADE CHAIR
A customer brought this chair and its identical neighbour for me to weave the seat in glossy
lapping cane. It's a beautifully elegant design, and he had carried out the woodwork to
perfection. The seat is woven in a pattern I hadn't come across before, but it was explained
in detail in the customer's book. It works very well on any large seat of this type.
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FANCY ARMCHAIR WITH READY-WOVEN CANE WEBBING
Yes, it really is cane webbing! You would think this had to be hand-caned, but it's actually
made from panels of ready-woven cane. I believe it was made in the far east, where they're
good at this sort of thing.
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RUSH-SEATED CORNER CHAIR
Very unusual little square chair. When it came into our workshop the remains of the old seat
showed it had been made with willow, much like a basket, but the owner wanted it redone
in rush.
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BIG LOW RUSH CARVER
Big low comfy armchair with a rush seat. Note how the uprights for the arms go straight
through the rush.
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BIG BLACK LACQUERED CANE SOFA
This sofa is black lacquered and originally had oriental designs painted on it -most had worn
away by th time it reached our workshop. I had to stain the cane work to match the wood.
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CHILD'S CHAIR WITH MAMA BEAR
This is Mama Bear, my mum's teddy, sitting on a pretty little child's rush chair.
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ARTS & CRAFTS STOOL
Unusual rush stool from the Arts & Crafts movement. Notice how the rush patten
varies from the standard one.
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DAINTY RUSH CHAIR
Really pretty little rush chair.
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3 ANTIQUE CANE CHAIRS
These were part of a set of rather fine chairs that I recaned a few years ago.
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THICK SEAGRASS IN THE RUSH PATTERN
We've only recently been able to get thick seagrass, and this is the first time I tried using it
in the rush pattern, It worked very well and was easy to do. I'd recommend it to beginners.
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THICK SEAGRASS IN THE CHEQUERBOARD PATTERN
The new thick seagrass woven in the traditional chequerboard pattern. You need to use
much thicker tension sticks to get this to work, but it makes a nice chunky looking seat.
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COTTON CORD STOOL
One of the many simple but striking patterns that can be created with 2 colours of cotton
cord.
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MY OWN FAVOURITE RUSH CHAIR
Ah, my lovely little kitchen chair! I rescued this chair, battered and sad-looking, from our
local auction rooms, brought it home, stripped it down, gave it several coats of Danish Oil
until it gleamed, and made a new rush seat for it. It's my favourite chair now.
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