… or just sitting on the curb. On my way home from getting bagels last Sunday I noticed some furniture on the curb in front of Linda and Dixie’s house, in particular one very substantial-looking chair, but didn’t stop for a closer look. Arlene went out later in the day. When she got home, she said, “I saw a pretty nice chair on the curb down the street.” We put our coats on (it had started to rain) and walked down to check. The chair wasn’t there any more! But Dixie was, moving some of the stuff. She said, “I put it back on the porch. Would you like it? Linda’s brother used it in his college dorm room.” We looked. Though the seat looked as if t had been severely clawed by pets over the years, the frame was solid and in pretty good condition. We carried it home and I started to take the rush seat off, a little at a time, trying to see how it had been made as I went. I didn’t think to take a “before” photo, but here’s a “halfway” photo. There was cardboard between the top and bottom layer (it’s sort of a figure eight structure) of rush. Some was corrugaged, some was an old shoebox. We couldn’t find any date, but the design on the shoebox fragments looked like ’40s or ’50s style. That would be consistent with the dorm room history.
Will I buy paper “rush seat” material? Will I pick cattails and try to make a real rush seat? Will it sit undone for years? Stay tuned…