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today we are going to weave a standard

rush chair this chair is a ladder back

it's been refinished it's been reglued

cleaned out it's ready to go first we

want to get a coil of rush to work with

I like to take a piece of masking tape

and tape the end to itself this keeps

the coil from getting tangled as I'm

working with it I want to get enough in

my hand that's a comfortable amount for

me to work with that amount will vary

with the chair and with the different

people who are weaving take your coil

brush out of the water shake off any

excess water you should be able to see

that it's quite moist and this makes a

pliable and easier to work with to start

the chair you want to know how much you

need to fill in in the front so you want

to measure the distance between the back

legs thirteen and a quarter inches

measure the distance in the front 16 and

a quarter inches subtract the back

measurement from the front measurement

and put a mark measuring in from each

rail in this instance it'll be one in

three eighths inches I've already

pre-marked it actually the same on this

side one and three-eighths inches the

distance between those two marks should

equal the distance in the back in this

case it's thirteen and a quarter inches

so we're going to weave the front

corners until we get up to that line and

then the front will be squared with the

back and we will start weaving the

entire chair you want to attach your

first strand to the inside near the

front leg

I use a cable staple gun if you can see

the end of this it's a cable staple gun

it fits right in there a normal staple

gun has a wide flat staple which it is

not as good as this this is the best

tool I've found to attach it if you

don't have a cable staple gun you can

use a standard carpet tack it's a little

bit slower and kind of hard to get

started I'll show you how it would go

and you can do that each time I find it

slows me down so I just use the staple

gun I'm going to leave the tack in you

don't need both but it's not going to

hurt you want to then take your coil

it's going to go over the top of the

front rail underneath it and up through

the middle then you're going to go over

the left rail and back up through the

middle up over the right rail and back

up through the middle over the front

rail back up through the mill and then

you're going to lay your coil down now

we're going to go back and tighten this

up you want to pull real tight and mold

it right around there and you want it to

be a right angle right there

and tighten that up and as you go you're

continually holding the tension this

finger is holding the tension underneath

while I let go and I want to go on this

side and pull it tight then I can let go

with this hand continually making sure

the tension stays on the rush and then

we're going to attach it to the inside

rail over here and then we're going to

cut it off then you do another one you

go a little further up the line you can

see the holes from the previous person

this particular chair had tacks

the same pattern over the front rail

come up through the middle over the left

rail up through the mill over the right

rail up through the middle over the

front wheel up through the mill and set

your coil down now you want to pull your

second one in tight and you want to

start working your corners

you don't want gaps like that and you

don't want gaps like that this is what a

lot of beginners end up doing you want

to take this corner and work it with

your finger underneath and your thumb

and make sure they're tight together

it's tight as you can get them and you

continue all the way across work this

corner so that the strands are is taped

together as you can get them attach it

to the side rail

cut it off we have now woven four

strands you can see that they're

attached to each one a little bit

further up the side rail on both sides

every time I get four strands woven you

can see they're starting to not be

square or parallel they're leaning in so

you want to take a wooden wedge and a

hammer and you want to tap them over top

side bottom everywhere needed so that

they're perfectly parallel and not

leaning either way and you're going to

want to do that to all four sides you

can see they're leaning it's easy to

compress the material if its moist it'll

slide right a nice tight together

and every time you rap four strands you

want to take the time to do that alright

now we have the front completely filled

in it's up to the black line you may

want to double check it make sure that

that measurement is the same or really

close as the measurement in the back and

we are at that point now so I'm going to

attach one more strand to the left side

and that'll be the last time we need to

do that take our coil and repeat the

same pattern you can tie your chair has

the same pattern over the front rail up

through the middle over the left rail up

through the middle over the right rail

over the front wheel now we're going to

start weaving the back also so you're

going to go over the back rail and up

through the mill over the right rail up

through the middle over the left rail up

through the middle over the back rail up

through the middle and lay down the coil

now we need to go back and tighten this

up just as we were doing as we filled in

the front do you see how that wants to

ride up there and now this bottom one is

not pulled out you need to pull the

bottom one out pull that one down and

work that corner so it looks good you

don't want it with gaps you want it

tight

there's no way when the chair is done to

come back and fix any gaps here the time

to do it is while you're weaving and you

continue over do the same thing on this

side

push and pull the strands as needed to

make it a nice snug fit now we're going

to the back I pull it as tight as I can

every time tighten up that corner

come across to here work that corner now

to hold the tension you're going to want

to use a clamp and then you can let go

with your hands and your tension is

maintained with that clamp will do

another strand like that same pattern

over the rail up the middle you see how

I'm working with a coil and the coil is

not getting tangled it unravels as I

need it and then we're going to tighten

this up again working this corner to

this bottom piece I always want to tuck

under you need to pull it out push that

one down work the corner with your

fingers because that's what's going to

be showing at the end is the the time

you spend working the corners

and use your clamp to keep the tension

out now we're going to keep weaving and

get it up to the point where it needs

cardboard added you're going to keep

doing this same pattern over and over

and over

I always remember every four strands or

even three or two if you need to take

your hammer and wedge and tap that over

one thing you want to watch for is that

when you go over you don't want it to be

writing on top of itself on any of the

sides especially in the back that's

going to happen to you because you can't

see it so you may have to keep

double-checking the back we'll look at

that again a little bit I've been

weaving the chair along using the same

pattern keeping my strands parallel you

can see it's the same distance here as

it is here you want that to be the same

distance as you work along I've added

some pieces you can see knots there's

one here there's one here and we will

cover how to do that when we add our

next piece I we are at the point now

where it needs to be filled with carpet

cardboard triangles and that's going to

fill this void here if you don't put it

in there as the chair is used it will

sink down and eventually break along

that edge so we use cardboard triangles

I keep a box of them pre-cut it's just

handy or for me and you find the size

that will fit before you cut one to fit

and you're going to fill all four sides

sometimes it'll take more than one piece

to fill the void you want to put enough

in to fill it but not so much that it is

overstuffed and pushes the rush up in

the air that's not a scenario that you

want

sometimes one piece will do it sometimes

it takes two pieces if it needs two

pieces go ahead and put them in general

this sides will take more than the front

in the back

you're going to want to stuff the top

and the bottom so we're just going to

flip it over the bottom side will

generally take more than the top and

once again you can see our knots and you

can see how they're just going to be

covered up by the cardboard not causing

any kind of a problem and I generally

put two pieces in the bottom and the

sides on the bottom won't take as much

as the top every chair is going to be a

little bit different now we have it

stuffed with cardboard we're ready to

continue weaving we need to add a piece

so we're going to take our end and we're

going to make a knot so that it ends up

right in the middle you don't want the

knot close to the corner because that

will be in your way and as you can

remember from my other knots they were

in the middle also so I'm going to tie a

square knot square knot holds the best

you want to pull your knot as tight as

possible cut off the excess

and you kind of want to turn you're not

so majority of it is facing down not

sticking up if it's facing down then

that'll be covered over and won't be in

your way

remove my clamp up to the front here and

I'm going to take my coil and continue

the pattern coming up through the middle

over the left rail up through the middle

over the right rail the same pattern

that we've done throughout the entire

chair you can see that the coil is

getting kind of tight in the middle

we'll cover what to do when you can't

get the coil through the middle in just

a moment now I'm going to take that

strand and tighten it up make sure the

knot does not interfere at all and I'm

working every corner as I go by and you

can see it's staying pretty tight not

too many gaps

and there's that strand and you can see

how the knot is going to be just covered

up any part of it sticking down won't

matter and the top part will be covered

over with the new strand we're ready to

add another coil of material as you can

see there's not going to be room to put

a coil through the middle so I need to

first of all add a piece so I'm going to

just tuck that down through the hole

then I'm going to turn the chair over

and I'm going to make my knot on the

bottom and this knot is going to be

about the middle between the rail and

the center hole once again I make a

square knot pull it as tight as you can

and you're going to cut off the excess

just like you've done previously

now this knot I could like to just kind

of lift the strands up and tuck it

underneath and hide it and it's kind of

hidden just as this one's hidden the

other knots are hidden just my personal

preference and you want to turn it back

over and you want to come over and this

strand is going to go here and you can

see how it's perfectly even all the way

across there with this strand and one

more this side will be finished I'm

going to move my clamp each time now I'm

going to come up through the center and

I have to pull all the rush through one

piece at a time so it's pulled through

then we're going to go towards the back

and we're going to move our clamp to

that location

and I'm going to bring that up through

the middle also takes a little while to

pull it all through it depends how long

of a piece you have if the tangles on

you and you get frustrated you can make

the piece shorter and just you'll have

more knots underneath I like to work it

as long a piece as I can to reduce the

number of knots now in here you'll see

there's a little gap there and it needs

to be tighten up this is where I use a

hammer and I'll just tap it over you see

how it close that gap up and made it sit

tight and move my clamp up here come up

through the middle again once this up

through the middle you're going to come

this way and you do want to tighten this

up and since you can't really pull it or

get your fingers in there I'm going to

use this hammer and make sure it's nice

and snug in there and I'm going to come

over here and it's not quite filling

that so I'm just going to twist the coil

a little bit to loosen it and have it

fill in there and fill that gap totally

now we're going to come up through the

middle again and we're going to go over

to the other side

now this time this will be the last

strand that we lay on this side and then

we'll be working on filling the front in

the back you'll see I've got a little

bit of a gap there and that's sticking

out way too far as can't cause

interference if I'm going to tap that

I'm just going to force it all and you

can see this last strand lays right in

there just perfectly now we're going to

wrap the front and the back and finish

our chair

this strand I'm going to purposely make

a mistake back there just to show you

what can happen you see how that hiked

up there that could have happened

anywhere along here and if you come back

now and look and it happened over here

you've got a real problem trying to fix

it so you'll want to continually make

sure you don't have that happening to

you any sides but especially in the back

you want to make sure it's down like

that now we're going to continue weaving

in a figure eight pattern to fill in the

front and the back

I'm just going to go front to back and I

want to make this tight in here so I'm

going to hit it with my hammer each time

and you can also do the same thing with

a wooden wedge your idea is you want to

compress it in there otherwise that will

fill up and you won't have room in the

front or the back you'll see that the

hole in the middle starts to close up on

you that's where you're going to use a

caning peg and you're going to tap that

in there to open up the hole and you're

going to need to do that every time as

you get near the end and now the only

way to do it is to bring up strand poke

it through that hole and pull it through

and pull it on the front rail and

tighten it and the hole has closed up

and we also have a bit of a gap here so

first I'm going to open the hole back up

with the keening peg you'll see that my

rush is very moist here that makes it a

lot easier to manipulate it and to move

it you see how I use the wedge to twist

that and close that up a couple more

strands and we're going to be done with

this chair so you're going to come up

through the hole that you just made with

the peg now the back I can feel there's

not room to lay this in there because

it's closed up there so I'm going to

open that up just by looking I know I

need to get two more strands through

here now there's one of them

you need to open up the hole in the

center again it comes right through when

you make that hole now this should be

the last strand going in the front see

how it lays right in there nicely then

we have to make room for our last strand

in the back I'm not gentle with this peg

I found it in there and make sure it

makes enough room to get a strand

through now you see it's kind of closed

up right there so I'm going to use the

wedge to just twist it a little bit make

it wide enough that I can lay one strand

in there and check the back to see if I

have room there and I need to adjust it

just a little bit and I can get that

last strand and lay it right in there

and there the chair is completed it's

ready to be tied off this clamp is

holding the tension at this time you'll

notice I was using two clamps at the end

there was just easier to have a clamp on

the front and the clamp on the back a

lot of times I'll use four clamps all

the way around it's just personal

preference the main goal is to never

lose the tension now we're going to turn

it over and tie it off have a lot of

excess material so I'm going to cut it

out here and I'm going to take my

mackanin peg and this last strand coming

from the other way and use that to lift

it up slide this under remove the peg

and I'm going to pull it tight and pull

it tight so it's nice and snug there

then I'm going to lift up the same

strand slide it under there

and tie it in enough now you want that

knot tight so what I'm going to do is

pull it tight first and hold my finger

on it and pull that through so it stays

as a tight knot I'm going to cut this

off so it's about six inches long and

you can't have a piece of brush hanging

down beneath your seat so I'm going to

use the wedge to separate a couple

strands and tuck it underneath push it

in real good so it stays nice and far

you can use your wedge to do a little

tidying up under here if you want to it

really doesn't matter because it's the

bottom of the chair you can see a knot

there and I'm not there you can see some

gaps and things but that's typical on

the bottom your attention was placed on

the top remove our clamp here we have

the completed fiber rush seat

you

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