Making Chair Seats from Cane, Rush and Other Natural Materials

by Ruth B. Comstock

An attractive chair seat, skillfully woven by hand from natural fibers, can do more than merely enhance interior décor. It can also be a source of pride for its creator. Now, with this guidebook written by one of the field's best-known experts — a distinguished faculty member of the New York State College of Human Ecology — do-it-yourselfers can master the fine art of weaving and fabricating chair seats.
Professor Comstock's easy-to-read book, abundantly illustrated with more than 160 step-by-step photographs and drawings, tells how to make seats from a variety of natural materials. Included are intricate patterns woven from cane; sturdy and attractive seats made from twisted strands of rush, rope, Hong Kong grass, and twine; a basket-weave effect created from splints (thin strips of wood); and more.
All aspects of the subject are considered — from selecting materials (including how to gather and dry such fibers as rush) to preparing the chair, equipment needed for various weaving processes, how to warp and weave, and ultimately, how to finish the seat.
Craftworkers looking for a new medium of expression will find this manual an inspirational guide to learning a distinctive craft. Others will want to acquire these skills for their practicality, considering the high costs of professional caning and related techniques.

Genres: Crafts, Nonfiction

48 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1988

Reviews

[Koen Crolla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very terse but uncontroversial introduction to weaving chair seats. Aimed at restorers rather than people who are making a new chair from scratch, but informative all the same.
You're probably better off watching a Youtube video, though; it will have the same information, but be much easier to follow. The book has a lot of pictures, but some of the actions, though conceptually straightforward, are just visually too complicated to be easily presentable.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Making Chair Seats from Cane, Rush, and Other Natural Materials by Ruth B. Comstock (Dover Publications Inc. 1988) (684.1). I've decided to pick an old hobby back up, and this is where I began. This is a short but detailed guide to the various forms of the art of chair (seat) caning and seat weaving. Thirty years ago, my father and I were informally apprenticed to a lady of well over eighty years who taught us the craft of seat weaving. I learned to do seven-step cane, five-step cane, pressed cane, rush weaving, and how to work with white oak splits. It was great, and she was a great teacher. I repaired all of the chairs around our house and attic with broken seats, and then I fixed a bunch of broken chairs for friends. The materials cost next to nothing, but the art is a time drain. To remove and repair a cane seat takes about twelve hours of intensive concentration. So what is that worth? What should I charge? I couldn't mentally justify charging enough to make it cost effective even as a casual hobby. I suppose that the reality is that the only chairs worth re-caning must necessarily be valuable, for I wouldn't repair a seat for less than $350.00.
The point to that segue is to note that I once was really good at this, but my skills are beyond rusty. But I now have a bunch of other broken chairs in the basement in need of new bottoms. I'm going to repair them, and I read this as a refresher. In conjunction with two other excellent books (Chair Caning & Seat Weaving Handbook: Illustrated Directions for Cane, Rush, and Tape Seats by John Kelsey, Editor (Skills Institute Press 2012) (684.08), and The Caner's Handbook: A Descriptive Guide With Step-by-Step Photographs to Restoring Cane, Rush, Splint, Danish Cord, Rawhide, and Wicker Furniture by Bruce W. Miller and Jim Widess ( Lark Books 1991) (684.13)) I own on the topic, I'm about ready to begin caning. Of these three books, Making Chair Seats has the best and most detailed photographs.
This volume was quite useful. It contains all of the information needed to succeed at this craft. My rating: 7/10, finished 3/29/19. I purchased a new copy from Amazon 1/3/19. PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

[waits4thebus · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there's a hole in one of your kitchen chairs, you don't throw it away, you buy a book and weave yourself a new chair while you watch Netflix. BOOM.