Williamsburg Snapshots – Replicating a Walker Corner Chair

In addition to serving as the Master of Ceremonies for the Working Wood in the 18th Century event, Anthony Hay shop master Kaare Loftheim took to the stage to show us the developments of the corner chair made up the road in the Walker shop near Fredericksburg.  This iconic chair form, perhaps most notable for the thunder mug contained underneath the upholstered slip seat, provided inspiration for many other chairmakers of the period.  Maybe while they were sitting… oh, never mind.

Kaare was particularly struck by the stylistic variations of the form within the same shop.  He spent considerable time pointing out the salient details from the version of the chair he was replicating in black walnut.

For the on-stage demonstration Kaare did the layout and carving in basswood so it would proceed more quickly and we could get his points in a hurry.

I am pretty sure that “working in a highly detailed artistic and technical exercise while an audience watches the results a 100x magnification” fits at least some definition of fearlessness.

Most of the structural creation had been accomplished prior to the event, but it still had to fit together properly.  It did.

Prior to the last year or so I was only barely acquainted with Kaare personally, and it has been a true delight to get to know him better over that time and I look forward to the next time our paths cross.