This stool features a piece of wisteria in a loop-de-loop shape under the seat–it grew around a loose paling on the back fence of my local electrician, one John Cafe, whom some of you will remember–he came to live in Bega some 35 years ago and is still the same likeably-gruff, sincere guy with the dry sense of humour.
The traditional hunter-gatherer used every part of the animal or plant. Nothing was wasted. Likewise I like to use up the off-cuts of previous jobs.
This basket has a skeleton of cuttings from the Banksia Rose on the porch (which needed pruning). The gaps are filled with off-cuts of various types of wood shaped to fit. It is all tied together with strips of cloth and coloured string. These 200-300 ties make it very sturdy. The weight of the wood makes it more a bowl than a basket.
I needed something to keep my growing collection of twine and thread. It is 60cms in diameter.
I have a little aversion to instruction manuals–they can discourage original thinking and problem solving. I prefer to learn by doing, like a pioneer (you then own it more).
This chair is a practice for mortise and tenon in preparation for some balustrades I am collecting wood for–if I could make a chair that does not wobble, I can make a firm balustrade!
The chair turned out rock solid and I copied the dimensions and angles from another chair so that it would also be super comfortable (so you don’t even feel the body).
The fabric is mostly velvet and the seat is shaped like a saddle (a bucket seat)–very snug..
Every design follows the found piece.
The Artwork of Richard Barnes, Australia 