Fine chair making

I'de decided to take my furniture making up a notch and have a go at some luxury furniture. So this week I make a Louis XIV style settee and chair set.

I chose an image of a sofa that I liked and copied it. I made the chair base and back from basswood and the legs from match sticks which I carved with a blade. 

For the ornament on the top I used a small bit of laser cut card I can left over.

Rather than upholster with foam I used a clever trick I recently learned which is simply the cut and shape cushions from soft balsa wood. This makes coating them with fabric MUCH easier. I then glued on the yellow silk carefully to avoid staining the fabric. 

Here you can see the upholstered sofa next to the balsa wood cushions of the chairs.

I then gave the wood a light paint with gold paint and rimmed the edge of the cushions with a fine gold thread which finished them very well. 

The final product, ready for a salon which does not yet exist!

Furniture making - first attempts

Hi all, its been a little while since my last post. This is because I have been studying full time and working three jobs.

Ive recently had a bit more time though, and here are my latest creations. I am working on filing my 1:24 half scale house with half scale furniture. After browsing widely on the net for about two years I finally came to the conclusion that if I wanted good furniture in 1:24 I just had to make it myself!

These are my first wobbly attempts. All made in basswood.

I started with an octagonal card table:

I added inlay by using some left over thin flooring wood, cut very tiny. I realised the basswood was thicker than the veneer so I packed out the base with masking tape (you can see the white tape there). 

It got slightly fiddly. 

In order to make the legs stand evenly under the table I pressurised it when the glue was drying. 

 Next up: the gothic style victorian book case. Also made in balsa.

The finished products!