Ruby

Speaking of presents, with Bokja featuring in the last post and Christmas almost upon us, on Wednesday I finally got a chance to unwrap Ruby, as she is currently known. The fun thing about undoing chairs is it's not until you unwrap them that you can truly know what you've got. The style of springing, the use of elastic or nylon tape over hessian webbing, not to mention in some cases the concealed original upholstery fabric all help to pinpoint a chair's era and origin.

Ruby was a pass-the-parcel chair, with a once-was red heavy velvet peeling back to show the deeper merlot velvet beneath.

She's either newer than I thought or nylon web is older than I thought. There is a possibility she has been renovated before, but I won't know until I replace the calico base layer on the weekend.

I'm really pleased with the amount of light I'm getting in the evenings here, and was able to spend two hours sanding back black paint from the timber legs. Sadly, dark paints and stains penetrate timber quite well over time, so at the end of my sanding stint, my hands were vibrating to a point of numbness, but the difference between before and after was less than gratifying.

I blame my crummy arlec sander. Perhaps santa will bring me a new one for christmas?