Anatomy of a chair

I started another chair in my upholstery class.

I will not finish it in this session, because it's quite a bigger project. But I have started, and I am now down to the skeleton of the chair. I have guttered it, and wednesday I will start rebuilding it.

I had my camera with me with I did it, and I took pictures of every step, mostly for my mother, who is a quite envious of my class. I also wanted to share how long a process it actually is.

I have rarely seen such a great chair in such poor condition. But I feel it's going to be a goodie. To start, the fabric has to come off. It's pretty tacked in, to you need special tools...



What you find underneath is called flock. You have to cut it out because it is sown in.


Under that you find heshen. Here, the springs of the chair have ripped through it, therefore losing their support and it made the chair lump sided and uncomfortable to sit in.



It's dirty, it's messy and in this case, there are more than 60 years worth of dust and dirt and crap in there. I even found an old knitting needle inside it.


Once the heshen is off, the springs must be cut out and the weaving have to be taken off as well.



After all this, only the skeleton of the chair is left and the rebuilding begins. I will be sanding, staining and polishing the arms. And I will post pictures of the rest of the steps.