by Elia Bizzarri | Feb 1, 2018 | Chair Stories, Classes | 3 Comments
Last month Leo bought a Velda's Arm chair, a chair I made at Anderson Ranch with the class I was teaching there. Here's a story about his chair: Imagine spending a hard day's work shaping a single piece of walnut, then putting it in a piping hot steam chamber....
by Elia Bizzarri | Nov 19, 2017 | Chair Stories | 4 Comments
My student Christophe from Australia commissioned three Pete's Stools with white oak legs and butternut seats. Here's the story about his chairs: I like the log yard when it is quiet, and the three-man crew is waiting for trucks to arrive. At those times, Junior...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 5, 2017 | Chair Stories | 0 Comments
I first heard it today, as I was turning legs for a set of four Loop Back side chairs. The lathe is all you hear when it’s running. Yet each time I turned it off, the sound was closer. Finally, I looked up from my lathe. There the beast was, along the back side of my...
by Elia Bizzarri | Apr 2, 2017 | Chair Stories, Chairmaking Tools and Supplies, Craft Films | 0 Comments
I first met Curtis Buchanan 15 years ago this month. My father drove the five hours to Jonesborough, TN and dropped me, a 17-year-old homesick boy, off for a week. Curtis had a student that week. I split logs and listened in on the class. I couldn't imagine I would...
by Elia Bizzarri | Dec 27, 2016 | Chair Stories | 0 Comments
This week I shipped a Fan Back and a Birdcage Side Chair to Rene in California. Here's the story that went along with her chairs (I'll get back to some how-to articles soon): My Grandmother was a hands-on sort of woman. She was an artist and drew medical...
by Elia Bizzarri | May 8, 2016 | Chair Stories | 0 Comments
On Friday I delivered a Continuous Arm Settee to Mark and Leslie in Chapel Hill, NC. They have a modern apartment downtown and wanted a more contemporary chair, so I put cigar-turnings on the settee (like those on Curtis Buchanan's Velda's Chair). My camera blew up,...
by Elia Bizzarri | Mar 24, 2016 | Chair Stories, How-To | 0 Comments
Today I turned 103 baby rattles. This may seem a long day, but it's less than a day's work at two and a half minutes each. I've been turning rattles since I was 16. Tom Donahey was the straw-boss at Drew Langsner's volunteer week. At 16 I was the youngest volunteer by...
by Elia Bizzarri | Dec 16, 2015 | Chair Stories, Classes, Craft Films | 0 Comments
Last week I delivered a set of two Birdcage Side Chairs and two Birdcage Arm Chairs to Cara in Chapel Hill, NC. Here's a story about her chairs: I wiped a spot of spilled hide glue off the workbench as I glued up the last in a set of four birdcage chairs. Reveling in...
by Elia Bizzarri | Aug 12, 2015 | Chair Stories | 0 Comments
Marshall and Jeffrey picked up a pair of loop back side chairs today. Here's a story about their chairs: John Dee Holman says he can sing the blues to make you cry, and I believe him. His half-brother is my farming neighbor Mr. Dixon. Both were born in Hillsborough,...
by Elia Bizzarri | Jul 19, 2015 | Chair Stories | 0 Comments
With the delivery of each chair order, the customer gets a short story I wrote about their chairs. Today I delivered two Velda’s Barstools and a Velda’s Settee to Rick and Betsy in Hillsborough, NC. A story about their chairs... He was tall and strong and quiet, had a...
Donate below to help keep the blog going. Thanks!