1900 Wicker Rocker

Kim's great-grandmother's favorite chair, rescued from a barn loft, rewoven by hand and finished with matching spiral reeds.

Era

About 1900

Work

Rewoven, new spiral reeds, repaired seat rail, refinished

Story

Kim's great-grandmother's favorite chair

This was Kim's great-grandmother's favorite chair. It sat in the family barn loft for more than fifty years after her death before he dragged it out around 1990. Evidence inside showed it was originally painted lavender, and a single surviving spiral reed showed what had been there.

His friend, the late master craftsman Jr. Strasil, bent a 1-inch hickory stick to replace the broken seat rail and made a tool for turning reeds into spirals that match the original. Wicker uses many different weaves, and Kim worked through the most complex ones with a book as his guide. The weaving was done years ago, but the chair waited nearly 25 years in the basement until he was happy with a finish of multiple coats of lacquer toners. “The chair fits me perfectly and now it is MY favorite chair!”