Mike Mascelli writes:
It seems like it has been a while since I sat down to write one of these
Sunday night rambles that were such an integral part of my life for about
4 years running, and since I have a bit of yarn to spin, I thought it was
good time to fire up the ole laptop.
The background of this story actually goes way back into the history of
Groop and the strange and ever evolving relationship between the elite
and mysterious world of museum conservation, and what they consider to be
the "dark side" where refinishers great and small reside. Those
previously isolated worlds were brought together several years ago buy
the cosmic crash of comet Don Williams into planet refinishing at the PR
Conference in Las Vegas. To his credit, Bob Flexner invited Don as a way
to bridge these related but separate fields, and I think it is fair to
say that the people to people connections have been growing ever since.
Many of you reading this have been to Don's classes with Mitch at DCTC,
others have met Don in person in one venue or other, and all so fortunate
have left the experience with a whole lot of stuff to think about (or
read !). And in spite of a busy schedule, a major book being published,
and a family life, Don has stayed in touch with Groop, quietly helping
many of our gang with specific problems, some of which can and should be
related in GroopMail. Big HINT.
This particular story relates to a talented finisher and aspiring
conservator named David Blanchard, who is located in rural Virginia, not
far from Don's mountain hideaway, and surprisingly not that far from the
hallowed halls of our nation's capital as well ! And before too much
time passes, David will be joining us a trial member, which should be
really great for all of us !
In short, Don was able to help David obtain some commissions to do some
furniture work on some very interesting pieces, for various entities
within the Federal Gubmint, on the understanding that Don would be
guiding and directing the specific treatment protocols. The object of
this particular tale, is a fairly simple 19th c. mahogany armchair, which
was to be finished in the traditional shiny black cloth literally made
from black horse tail !
We have often talked in Groop over the years about the 99.44 percent of
all furniture that folks bring into refinishing shops is "user"
furniture, often intensely sentimental to the owners, but rarely valuable
to the extent that it requires the extraordinary care and patience of a
full conservation treatment. Let just say that this little chair does,
and happily that involved the services of one skinny itinerant
upholsterer. It also gives me the opportunity to share with Groop a real
life example of a piece that rightfully received a "minimally intrusive"
upholstery treatment, where the goal was to put few if any fasteners into
the frame to secure the show cover. Sounds easy enough, eh ?
When Don and I arrived at David's shop he had meticulously prepared the
chair frame, with a series of skillful repairs including adding new wood
to replace missing pieces, and patching in some old stock to rebuild
other areas. This former box full of busted parts is now a very nice,
solid frame. He also prepared some simple but neat "pads" that consist
of a light backer, covered with shaped ethafoam, and then lofted with a
bit of poofey dacron. The bottom is basically a slip seat using thin
plywood, and the inside back is also a slip in pad built on some acid
free matboard. Low tech !! Of course the approach throughout is to use
conservation grade materials, and make sure that anything that touches
the frame is reversible. Thanks to Don, this was a simple as coating the
bare wood frame with methyl cellulose (Elmer's Blue School Glue) and
using hot melt to build up missing areas. The other key is the taking of
tons of pictures and writing up a detailed report of everything that is
done, step by step. This is not, I repeat NOT in any way outside the
realm or skill of virtually all of you reading this.
My task was simply to tame the wild horse. The challenge is to make the
black genuine horsehair fabric "show cover" look as much as possible as
correct as the one that would have been on this chair way back in the
early 18's, and the cool part is that any trick that works is legal !! I
will just digress for moment to discuss this mysterious horse cloth, that
really is made from genuine horse tail, woven into a cotton matrix, and
resulting in a material that shimmers like polished stone, and is about
as easy to work with ! David obtained the material from Germany, where
it is still made in a dizzying array of colors and patterns, and let is
suffice to say the stuff is not "sheep". It comes about 27 inches wide,
and feels like very stiff pre-primed artist's canvass in the hand. The
worst part is that it has a tendency to "run" when cut along the strands
of horsehair, and that is just the way it is.
For the bottom cover, our approach was pretty simple, as we installed
self adhesive velcro strips on the inside faces of the properly coated
original frame rails. Then I cut and fitted the cover around the arms
and seat, and then machine sewed the mating strip velcro to the hemmed
edges of the show cover. I have to add a short side note, that my
previous heavyweight bout with Don's portable walking foot sewing machine
did little to improve its attitude, and I once again subjected it to an
animated antipasto of Italian abuse before it finally saw things my way.
Since David had replaced the rear seat rail, I was allowed to staple the
cover to it, and then just pull and smooth the cover under the other 3
sides, using a healthy blast of steam all the way around. The long
"tabs" that wrap from the seat rail around the back were fussy, and a bit
of hand blind stitching for the two front corners, and that part was
done. This is not rocket science. And let it also suffice to say that
once the steam hits this stuff, there is NO question that it really did
come from a horse !!
The backrest was a more serious challenge as it involved both the inside
and outside backs, and what had to be those two long hand closed seams on
either side. Our approach was to make a very neat machine stitched seam
at the top, joining the inside and outside backs, and positioned to land
just where the original tack banger would have put his folded over seam
at the top of the outside back. Then I fitted the inside back so that it
would pull invisibly into the middle of the chair and on to the top of
the new seat rail where it would fasten with velcro. The outside back had
a strip of velcro machine stitched to its folded edge and then it simply
pulled straight down and under, hitting another bit of velcro. The
tricks here were the series of steps to do what I like to call "sewing
the girl into the dress". Our methods need to be reversible, and in this
case the cover was not one of those that needed to be removed to showcase
the frame itself, which would have necessitated some other decisions. If
this cover has to come off a long time from now, some future conservator
will just need to neatly cut the hand stitching, and pull the velcro.
The matboard backer of the foam pad was securely attached to the frame
rails with velcro, and then I was able to hand stitch the outside back
cover to its muslin cover, closing up the back all but the very bottom.
When Don wasn't looking, I did use a couple of small tacks to
temporarily hold the horsehair cloth while I was sewing ! Then the
inside back was folded back on itself, and pulled over to meet the back
edge and allow a very traditional blind stitch up each side, giving the
appearance of the original cover. On the sides where the back meets the
bottom "tab" a kind of "butt joint" was created and hand closed, very
much the same way that the old timers would have done it.
Our short time schedule required me to leave the last seam for David to
complete, as well as the patience jarring task of installing about 450
decorative tack "heads" using a combination of hot melt glue and bad
language (just the way that Don taught him). The result will be a
stunning, shimmering black and gold "dress" over a handsome aged mahogany
frame, that will be very close to the original appearance as well as
being very "sittable" at least for the occasional photo session. We will
be sure to post a picture of the fully finished product.
Though he is not yet here to read this, I extend my thanks to new friend
David Blanchard, a gentleman, and craftsman whose hospitality was greatly
appreciated, especially with the tight scheduling. I sure hope that we
get the chance to work together on another project somewhere down the
Beltway.
I also hope that this short adventure piques your interest about the
exciting possibilities for working on those rare but rewarding heirloom
pieces that I am willing to bet WILL cross your threshold in the next few
years, as the appreciation for things old, and the "value inflation"
fueled by the Antiques Roadshow continues to bring us clients with deeper
and deeper pockets. There is absolutely no harm in asking a client if
they would consider a minimally intrusive approach !
I would like to close with a sincere thanks to my good buddy Don for his
expertise and guidance, as well the opportunity to hone our duo act for
the day that we actually DO get a full minimally intrusive upholstery
class booked, hopefully at Mitch's. As I think David will attest, the
standards are high, the energy level is high, and the humor requires all
present to have a skin about as tough as say,
Horsehair !
Signing off from Groopville,
MikeMascelli,
Near Albany NY
Where Summer has been as steamy as Indrek's sauna.
Here is an unrestored chair very
similar to the one in this project
David assists as we attach velcro
to the bottom of the bare frame
A good view of the chair with the
new slip seat bottom loosely in
place and the original burlap undisturbed on the inside back
An early attempt at "mounting the
horse", with the tricky fitting
around the base of the arm.
Addressing the portable walking
foot in Italian.
Attaching 1.5 in strips of
horsehair cloth on the bottom edges of the
prepared surface of the bare frame using hot melt to ease the sharp edge
of the wood and protect the show cover.
They steam horses don't they ?
Using a simple blind stitch to
hand close the front seams, as would
have been done originally
The completed front seam
A good view of the details of the
bottom, showing David's nice neat
replacement timbers
The completed bottom, with just
one tiny "Don Approved" screw
fastener on each side, under the base of the arm, which will be
completely covered by the head of one of the decorative tacks.
Hand closing the long seam where
the inside back meets the outside,
as would have been done originally.
Here is the one complete side,
needning only the continuous row of
decorative brass tacks along the edges to be complete.
