Stool Pigeon Bar Stool

A couple of months ago, before our trip to Russia, the gallery I belong to decided to have a  fundraiser  benefiting young artists.  Of course,  I volunteered to participate, and in doing so was committed to creating three chairs.

My first thought was…..that’s a huge commitment, how on earth am I going to do this, more importantly why did you do this?  Knowing we were leaving on vacation, the word crazy even crossed my mind.

My second thought was… I needed to  frequenting the yard sales on Saturday, and Sunday.  My husband, and I spent all day looking for just the right chairs to use for this project.  He asked me exactly what I was looking for?  Isn’t that a silly question coming from the husband of an artist?

How the hell should I know what I’m looking for, I’ll know it when I see it!

So off we went, neighborhood by neighborhood scanning each garage sale, checking for chairs…any chairs.  Boy did we find  interesting chairs.  One man had the most beautiful hand crafted, wood chair I have ever seen. It clearly was out of my price range, but more importantly I would never alter it in any way.  Another sale featured rattan fan back chairs which I have always loved, but I knew if I bought it, it would never see the inside of any gallery in my lifetime.

Childs beach chair

We kept looking, and my husband was so patient with me.  A friend of mind who lives around the corner, was selling two oak bar stools, they caught my eye.  Not exactly chairs, but if they held a butt, that was good enough for me!  She only wanted $5. for each of them.  I bought only one, and now I’m sorry I didn’t get the other one.  Needless to say, since I was altering the stool, I picked the worst, most worn stool.  I must be a glutton for punishment!

Rattan Doll Chair

Onward to the next house…..

After combing many neighborhoods, I spotted a childs Sponge Bob Square Pants beach chair.  This adventure had been going on  for quite some time,  so I had my husband stop.   The lady wanted $3. for it, and how could I complain about that?  That made my second chair.

Keep going…..

Finally late in the day, as we were trying not to get discouraged, I spotted a small rattan chair.  Not big enough for a child, I realized it must be a doll chair.   After talking to the lady, I purchased the little Rattan doll chair for $2.  that did it,  we were finished!

That was quite a day, and after all said and done, a successful day at that.  Once we got the chairs into the back yard, I put a big drop cloth on an outside table, and began to spray all three chairs with white primer.  Sponge Bob was the most resilient, he just didn’t want to leave, but the rest were easily covered.  One thing let to another, and I had my project about a third of the way through by the end of the day.  Not a bad day if I do say so myself!

The legs of the stool have been crackled for a different effect,  I decorated the rungs with stenciled tissue paper, and my husband thought it would be fun to put a pigeon to the stool, and call it a Stool Pigeon.  So I sketched a pigeon, zetangled it, used acrylic medium to adhere it onto the top of the stool, and it blended into the background just as I planned.

Bar Stool recreated

Our vacation came and went, and the deadline for the chairs was extended another month.  That was a relief, since I returned home from vacation with bronchitis, and didn’t really have the energy to work on my projects.

Last Tuesday with all three of my chairs finished, I drove them down to the gallery for the fundraiser.  It felt so good to get them finished and I thought you might want to see them.

Thank you for taking time to visit, and read my blog.  Questions, and comments are always welcome, and appreciated.  Karen