MY GARRET RIETVELD CRATE CHAIR AND TABLE. One of the first chairs the movie studios closely is the Garret Rietveld crate chair. Built entirely with crate lumber (a European 1" by 6"), cut into a few standard sized rectangles which are overlapped, screwed together and painted white. Easy to build. Yet the museum directors insisted that the chair is a "masterpiece", a true original work of art.
I used left over hard wood planks (oak, gum, red oak, red cedar and birch) to make the chair and table. I plan to paint them in the fall. I used a box #8 1-1/2" self tapping screws, after drilling the top board so that the screw could be covered with a plug.
I found the plans for the chair and table on the internet. The plans are in metric. I made the chair and table 15% larger than the original plan size--easy to do when working in metric.
I intend to make another set for a friend later this Summer. This time I will purchase about 30 bf of sugar pine or poplar. It should be a lot easier to screw everything together.
Paul Mueller. July 2020 |
The new side mounted legs give the bureau a shape missing before. The brown furniture booties add a touch. The textured drawer fronts have a base coat of black milk paint covered by a coat of butter scotch buffed out with steel wool and waxed. The new pulls are ebony blocks with braided hemp cordage. The results pleased me so much I textured and painted the headboard of the bed to match. April 2020 |
Sailboat Rigging Chest, Local Madrone & Oak, Natural Fiber Cordage. December 2019 |
Sailboat Rigging Chest, Local Madrone & Oak, Natural Fiber Cordage. December 2019 |
Sailboat Book Ends, Various scraps, shellac finish. January 2019 |
Ditty Box - African mahogany, rope. September 2018 |
Tea box (cover of FWW magazine August 2018). Wenge oil finish.
July 2018 |
Sea Chest. Pine, Varnish. March 2018 |
Screen. Old Growth Redwood, Watco Oil. April 2017 |
Taliesin Lamp, Fir/Maple/Padauk, Polyurethane. February 2017 |
Bandsaw Boxes, Redwood, Shellac. September 2016 |
Black walnut Danish-style chair using a pattern from Watts' book of Scandanavian-style furniture. He spent hours with a spokeshave rounding the edges of the pieces. June 2015 |