Pandemic Diaries - Year 3, Month 2: Upcycling a Chair for Earth Day

 22 April 2022

 

Back in November or December, I was walking my usual route around our little neighbor-hood, when I happened by a chair that was outside with the bulk garbage.  It was a really nice rocking chair, but it needed the seat to be re-rushed.  

 

And me being me, I tracked down the former owner to check that she'd be okay if I adopted this chair.  She had been hoping that someone would adopt it and fix it up again.  So the sad chair came home with me.

 

I ordered the rush (which used to be made of cat tail stalks, but is now made of heavy kraft paper), as well as a little instruction book and two small wooden tools that turned out to be very helpful.  It was like the park sign - something I haven't really done, but hey, it's an art project, I can do this, right?  (Well, I helped my mother re-rush our old ladderback chairs about 50 years ago.  Back when rushing really was from rushes.)

 

Fast forward a several months, and I suddenly realized we only have a few more weeks here in Tucson.  So I spent a few days working on the chair.  Ran out of rush and had to order more, but oh well.  I finished the chair, and it looks SO much happier having a full seat of rush.  (And those little wooden tools, the wedge for hammering the loops of rush tightly together, and the spike to make a hole in the center for those last loops of rush - yeah, indispensable!)

Now, we obviously do not have room for this lovely cheerful rocking chair in our car.  We have a Toyota Corolla, a small sedan, which is full of luggage when we're on the road.  And it would cost a small fortune to ship a boxed chair to Yakima, WA, to keep it in our storage unit.

But I met a neighbor over on another street here, who happens to be a professional woodworker.  He makes furniture, gorgeous spoons, incredible flutes that play harmonics - he actually was standing in his open garage, looking at a hatchet.  A little odd, but I'm proactive, I figured I'd say hi.  We got to talking, and I thought yes, this person would appreciate the chair!

Well, he and his wife came over to see the chair.  It turns out the two of them had walked by the chair back in the winter, and he, as an art person, was really tempted to bring the chair home to fix it up.  His wife discouraged this, since their garage is already packed with woodworking equipment and chunks of wood.

 

But they could skip the step of waiting to fix it up, since I did that!   So ta-da, I present the story of the upcycled chair, who found its new home today on Earth Day!  Richard and I agreed that it was basheert, destined, to go to these people.

And I'm now the proud owner of a handmade wood spoon, made from a chunk of the tree that was chopped down in the park next door.  My very own Arizona piece of art!

Isn't it nice when things work out this way?

 

Interesting little design lines on the arms and the rockers of the chair - and isn't this an odd way of doing rockers?