The Many Lives of My New Chair

Yucky green lumpy upholstery...

...and underneath THAT was even yucker!

...underneath it was this....

Someone's been chewing on the rails.

When we left to go see what the yard sales were offering on Saturday, I swore to Sparky; "Let's take YOUR car. If it won't fit in the back seat, I don't need it!" Turns out big things fit in the back seat.  I spotted this awesome chair, and the woman who sold it to me said, "It needs a lot of work", and I said "That's ok, I can fix it.  It called me".  She tried to sell me an end table too, and I said "hmm....no thanks.  That doesn't call me" to which she replied, "I sure wish it would call SOMEone!"   No idea if it ever did, but it had nothing to say to me so I left it there.  Meanwhile the chair is in my living room all glued and clamped.  It's missing two of the bracing pieces that go under the seat, which had a really lumpy upholstery job on it.  When I took it off, I realized why;  underneath it were two previous upholstery jobs.  Neither of which, as it turns out, are original to the chair because even the seat board was a replacement!  I'm going to try to take this one right down to the bare wood and stain it, I can't really tell what kind of wood it is but although the finish is really, really banged up the wood itself is in excellent condition.  And check out the carving on the back rest!  The chair I posted about last time is going to have to take a back seat for a while...or who knows, maybe I'll work on both of them at once.  I did finish the table finally, and brought it to Bristol with me for the show I did.  It got a lot of attention and nice compliments, so that was fun.  I'm asking $75 for it. 

On the music front, many avenues seem to have opened up at the same time for me.  Trying to put a rock band together but having trouble finding a singer, but at the same time I have been asked to audition as bass player in a working country band and also have been asked to play keys and sing in another, almost-working rock band.  I've also been working on some acoustic guitar stuff, maybe down the road I'll hook up with someone who wants to do an acoustic duo or trio project.  So many directions I could go, so for now I'll just go in ALL of them and see what transpires.  It keeps my mind occupied so I don't have time to sit and think.

Next up is the show at Smith Castle in North Kingstown, this Saturday.  I've never done that show either, so I don't know what to expect.  If the weather cooperates, it should be fun!  If there are a lot of people, I always have fun regardless of how my sales go.  Of course ultimately this is a job so it matters how much I sell, but I meet a lot of nice people and compare notes with other artists so that counts for something too!

Wood and Music

So the table is done, except for the sealing of the grout.  I had to go back and touch up the bleed spots where I used 3m painter's tape on the sides.  3m tape is crap, don't use it.  The first time I used it I had that problem, and I just assumed it was user error.  But this time I was very careful to seal the edges, and it still bled. Not a huge big deal (like last time when the paint bled onto a stained wood area and I had to remove it with a razor blade and a lot of colorful language) but next time I'll try some other brand.  Also the spray-on clear coat worked like a charm over the crackle finish.  A word about clear coat spray, I used to use Krylon or whatever was cheap, but I discovered that it's worth it to use Minwax, which costs at least twice as much, if only because the nozzle is much better and it gives a nice even spray.

About the sealing of the grout.  The bottle of sealer says to wait 48 hours after grouting, as opposed to EVERYTHING I found online which says to wait like 3 weeks.  I'm so conflicted.  So much drama! So I'm erring on the side of caution since my next show is not till the 21st.

Meanwhile, I started my next wood project.  Get me, using the big boy tools and everything!  Although I guess they're big GIRL tools now.  I tried to cut these 2x4s with the cordless Skil saw, which didn't work, so I ended up cutting them on the table saw, all the while with my husband's ghost screaming in my head "What are you DOING??!!  You don't crosscut on the table saw!!!  That's what the chop saw is for!!!"  except the chop saw was in the back of the truck in a parking lot in Providence.  Got to remember to take that out.  Anyway, no limbs were lost.  These are going to be candleholders, using mini jell-o molds for the cups.  I am not really in the habit of ripping off other peoples' designs, but I had the cups and was trying to figure out what to do with them.  It's not like I'm going into the candle holder business.  Here's where I got the idea.

                   
 So next up, even though I have other things started, is this chair I picked up this week.  It's going to stay black, but other things are going to be done to it including a comfy seat cushion for which I already have the fabric.  As is sometimes the case, it just screamed at me what to do with it so naturally, I'm anxious to get going.

Had a band audition last night.  And it occurs to me that that was really my first ever audition.  I have auditioned other people for MY band, but never really auditioned for someone else.  It went ok, though, good bunch of guys.  But mostly it helped to let me know which direction I don't want to go in musically.  The music was nice, but I guess I'm not ready to stop playing Zepplin yet.