Odd thing of interest probably only to me. Levis 501 jeans conform exactly to standard victorian era pants design. Except on the matter of which side does one “dress”, which the Levis leave open to interpretation…
I’ll probably expand on this thought some time in the near future…
Sports uniforms are a bit of a pet peeve for me. I feel that for every professional sport there are a few conventions that define the look of a player of a given sport that define that particular sport so well that it’s more than a little jarring when these standards are contravened. For example, shorts in hockey, stirrups in baseball, etc..
NFL uniforms are curious in that until recently the jersey’s were generally void of obvious team logos or names. Even the numbering wasn’t particularly distinctive until the last 20 years or so. There wasn’t much to separate a college uniform from a pro uniform. Even between pro uniforms there were only the colors and the distinctive striping. Famously the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals had nearly identical uniforms due to a long running feud between the owners. It’s the striping that I’m annoyed about today, specifically the shoulder stripes…
it started out to be a sailmaker’s bench, but went upscale somewhere…
The Problem with not planning your projects is that it generally means that you don’t know when you’re done. This project started out to be a Sailmaker’s bench, but if you look them up, you’ll see that I didn’t really conform to the ideal…
Working benches are a wonderful category of furniture. Sailmaker’s benches and Cobbler’s benches are of a variety of purpose-built furniture that tend to the less ornate end of the spectrum. but this does not restrict their complexity. The best examples are the ones that look like they were build for a very particular craftsman, (craftsperson if you like, but I’m going to skip over gender issues here, thank you… (you can just sort of assume I’m non-discriminatory…)) who probably started on a very simple, unmodified bench, and over the course of a (hopefully) successful and (more hopefully) happy lifetime of work was modified to be, or replaced by, purpose built to that particular person’s dimensions and habits. The needles go just here, stuck into a length of rope that was nailed to the surface, a corral was screwed on just here to keep small scraps from falling off the end of the bench, a hole was drilled here to hold the hammer, the edge has been worn off just here, etc. I went to an antique show some time back where there must have been four or five of the cobbler benches being sold as side or coffee tables. they varied from the simple, just a few little compartments in a corral area, to the ridiculous, with several tiers of little drawers, a cushioned leather seat, and heavily worn and darkened areas indicating that it was heavily used (or at least expertly antiqued…) Like many tools at antique shows, it was a bit sad that they weren’t being sold at a more practically minded venue.
So given that I’m building a boat, and preparing to do a lot of the associated tasks along the way, (rigging, sailmaking, etc.) I thought a good sailmaker’s bench would be useful… The design was constrained, as much of my recreational work is now, by the monstrous pile of inch-thick maple planks that a friend gave me a couple of years ago. (most of a tree actually.) but as I started to think of ideas, it occurred to me that I had never made sails before, (much less, cobbled.) And while I could scour google for images and references to sailmaker’s benches, I couldn’t really get more than an inkling for why certain things were where they appeared to be on the bench. I learned how to sew when I was young, but not in a trade environment, so I probably do things in a fairly non-traditional manner. I decided, or rather resolved, that I wasn’t going to make ‘a’ bench. I was going to make a test bed. this is my simple unmodified bench. somewhere in the near future is another bench. I have four sails to make, hopefully by the fourth sail, I’ll have sorted out what really needs to be a permanent fixture on a sailmaker’s bench and where it goes.
Watch this space for updates.
I have a long story about building a chair. The major issue I had with the project was that when it comes to upholstered furniture, there is a multitude of resources around to help you reupholster existing furniture, but very few that explain the construction of upholstered frames from scratch.
would restoration hardware qualify this as ‘deconstructed’…
There was one (and only one) book in the Seattle Public Library, a furniture design textbook from the 1950s that actually had design reference points specifically for the upholstery framing. one of these days I have to go back and get the title and info, and I’ll pass it along. It was astonishing to me that all the reupholstery books tended hide the frames, and made a specific point about the inadvisability of ever uncovering the frame.
for anyone who might care, the most useful bits in the frame are the vertical bars just inside the edges of the back, and the horizontal bars right above the seat frame at the bottom of the arms. technically these parts aren’t necessary, but they make the process soooo much easier. especially the arms.
clove hitches, as far as the eye can see…
the most tedious part of the whole process was the spring tying. helpful hint, a jig made made up of a couple of 1″x1″ with a spacer between makes the first tie much, much easier. the way upholstery springs generally work, you are supposed to tie the springs down and pre-tension them to create the initial firmness in the deck. using the jig, you can press down on the springs to the proper height, force the front springs out the front edge, then just casually tie them into place. see the linked article for details, follow it carefully, it’s the best resource I’ve found for the spring tying step.
for the curious…
one of the first questions I get from people on telling them that I’m building a boat in the basement is, “Will it fit out the door?”
so in an effort to curtail future asking of that question, (or at least curtail future answering of that question,) I offer this image as proof that it will indeed fit out the door.
or at least it did then… I’m pretty sure it will do so again…
I’ve started this… probably a half a dozen times so far. maybe this time it’ll stick? probably not, but worth a try. I’ve been requested to keep a diary of some sort, by someone who thinks my life is worth reading about… this may, of course, convince them otherwise, but what the hell…