Friday 16 July 2010

Medieval Stool

This week I'm going to be busy making up stock for all the upcoming shows...
Those were brave words weren’t they? but as we know - ‘Life’s what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans’.
In fact I’ve ended up spending nearly the whole week on this little baby...

I made the parts at the end of May (see 30th May blog) and stuck them next to a dehumidifier we had running to dry out a very wet wall (a technique that works really well and one that I’ll look into in future for speed-drying components).
I thought I’d be able to knock it together in a couple of days as I've made quite a few 4-legged frame stools but hadn't really forseen the problems/difficulties arising from having one less leg!  Plus the type of carpentry involved eg. chiselling out the slots in the top rail for the seat slats and planing down the slats themselves, made me start thinking of planer thicknessers and routers!  In fact the whole thing reminded me of why I decided not to become a chairmaker.
However I also thought about the original Medieval makers of such stools, how I was working the material in a similar way and with similar tools to them, I also realised that there was really no rush (apart from the deadline to deliver it next Wednesday in Yorkshire at the Driffield Show) and began to enjoy the experience - quite cathartic.
Thanks to Vanessa for her advice, encouragement, support and help.  (Actually she kept me going when I could have kicked it down the garden and chopped it up with an axe!)

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