My Conversation Piece

JRR
by JRR
I found this charming Mid Century Modern telephone chair at a garage sale. I couldn't allow it to languish there but had no idea what to do with it. So I took it apart, stripped and sanded it, glued it back together to ensure it lasts another 60 years and painted it. Now I can read, sip a martini and sit comfortably on my hand dyed leather seat. Oh, yes...I am a bookbinder and leather worker and used leather I had in the bindery for the seat. I hand dyed it, using painters tape to block the central design, then hand burnished it for an aged look.
I gave it several coats of poly to ensure a super shine and strong resistant surface.
Original condition...beaten, partly stripped, sad...
I found a piece of leather on the JRR Bookworks "scrap leather" shelf that was left over from a bookbinding project I had last year. I used eco friendly fade and water resistant dyes that can often be found in craft stores. It may look technical but the dyes are very forgiving and one just has to experiment a few times to get an interesting look. Daub it on with a cloth and rub it around for the shabby look shown here. The black covers over the red so I taped the red seat off and did the design in black right over the top. I then took a dry cloth over the black while it was still wet and smeared a bit of it around for shading. I rubbed it with the palm of my hand and some bees wax to give it an aged look. I like the final deeply burnished and slightly faded result.
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