I started on the wheelchair repair project in October.
http://shenandoahgatewayfarm.blogspot.com/2013/10/great-grandmothers-wheelchair.html
I didn't want to start on it earlier, because there was no point in getting it ready to be re-caned and not have some one to do the work. We found Alice Higgins in Verona and she agreed to do the work.
We drove up and got it yesterday. The new cane is obvious, but I was convinced to let it age naturally rather than staining it. The colors will be close in about three years. It is harder to see the repairs on the caning in the arms (the left arm).
It will hold people, but I hope no one sits in it. If they do, I hope they don't press down on the cane arms to get up. It needs to last the rest of my lifetime. I doubt I will be willing to pay more to repair it than it is worth a second time!
We have placed it in the B&B rooms. I chose to cover the new wicker with an "artfully" (my word) draped family quilt. And I fully admit, my artful needs some help. My Aunt Suzy is bringing me some of my mother's old dolls to place in it. Naturally, after I find a doll hospital to repair them.....(Is that another project?)
Lee said, "Why pay to get it fixed if you are just going to cover it up." I hate logical, engineering thinking.
"I want to keep people from sitting in it."
Will it? Quilt or no quilt? You tell me.
Hmm… if you build it, they will come (and sit). Perhaps an antique child's dress hanging on it would keep people off. Or a large stuffed animal. Unless children show up; they will definitely sit in it no matter what.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Rebecca but that quilt does n't work and for some reason doesn't look "right" in the chair. The antique dolls and a different, perhaps shawl-like small throw (can't think of a better word) could work as a deterrent to people sitting in the chair because they would have to remove everything, which most folk hopefully would not do. Of course, there's also the thought of a sign cautioning folks to not sit, but then children ( if you will be allowing them in the B&B) would be another issue altogether as Linda noted.
ReplyDeleteGrenville just suggested a mannequin of a senior person wearing a shawl!
ReplyDeleteI agree…. I think it's just too tempting to sit in. I'd probably want to give it a try if I were a guest and the shawl just makes it more inviting. Maybe a ribbon across the arms would work as a kind of barricade symbol?
ReplyDeleteI would not have the courage to put that chair in the B&B and hope that no one sits in it. I say take it upstairs where you know it will be safe. As much as I love to trust people.... I don't.
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