The Seat Weaver's Workshop Blog

Seat Weaving classes are available around the country if you know where to look.  Many of the classes are run through one of the following organizations. 

• Historical Society
• College Continuing Education Dept
• Nature Center
• Recreation and Parks Dept
• High School Continuing Education Dept 
• Heritage Centers
• Arts Centers and Camps

We teach seatweaving of all types through the Millcreek Township (Erie, PA) Recreation and Parks Dept, Adult Leisure Arts classes.  The Director, Jim Sperry has graciously maintained our class for nearly 8 years with enrollments of 5 - 12 students each session.  Our 8-week classes run for 2-hours each week in the fall, winter, and spring.  Our students have woven seats for over 50 chairs so far.  

 Recently, an area resident in Erie donated chairs (2 bentwood Cafe chairs) to the classes.  Students without a chair can learn to weave a seat using a donate chair.  If you have chairs that you would like to donate to a seat weaving class, contact the teacher or the organization sponsoring the classes and arrange to drop them off. Even chairs that are in need of some repair will make excellent projects for the new seat weaver.  

If you have an interest...

Yes, it is just about time for the bargain hunter's season to start up. April 1st seems to mark the beginning of the yard, garage, and house sale season and this year might be a good year to pick up some real winners. The weak economy may translate to home owners looking to unload some of the garage, basement, and attic treasures, including the furniture, stored away. Picking up a little cash from a yard sale may mean that pickers like us, will have great opportunities to come up with some real finds. Just a few tips to help you out.

• Be Fair: Just because it's a yard sale does not mean everything has to be less than a buck. Be fair with the bidding. A chair for $20 may be a steal, but to work the price down to a fiver might be rude. Others are watching your transaction.
• Look for labels and marking: When checking out the china, pottery, silver, and even the furniture, dig around and see if you can locate the markings that would indicate the manufacturer. Picking up locally made items can be a great selling point for you later. You may have to...

It's almost time to bring out the porch furniture and get the 3-season room opened up. In some areas of the US, spring is well underway. Living in Erie, along the lakeshore of Lake Erie, winters tend to stick around. Like most of my neighbors, we are well over the snow and are getting primed for the spring season. We got one of the late season snows yesterday. Just a nuisance snow. They say that we can expect 3 snows on the crocuses before the spring is here to stay, but I haven't even seen the crocuses yet. Despite what folks think, we do get four seasons in this area of the US; Almost Winter (fall), Winter, Still Winter (spring), and Road Construction (summer).

I am starting to get some calls about wicker and summer furniture that needs to be repaired. This is a good time to inventory what needs to be done in order to ready the summer furniture for the upcoming grilling and outdoor occasions you and your family enjoy.

Wicker and Rattan furniture are wonderul pieces to showcase a welcoming porch, 3-seson room, or entryway in a home. This furniture is woven with natural fibers, so there...

There are times when I come across a weaving project and I have trouble finding the right materials. Today, I got a beautiful chair that probably belongs on a 3-season porch. It is woven with a flat leaf that have been braided into a 1 inch flat weaver. The entire chair is woven in a traditional basketweave design, with this leaf weaver, and it is a big arm chair.

To be honest, this is the second time I have worked on this chair. I am being asked to repair the top corners of the arms of this chair. It seems a pet dog has enjoyed teething on the edge of the arm. The damage this time is limited to the round reed braiding that makes up the edging of the chair. The first time I saw this chair, I pulled my hair out trying to find out what this flat braided weaver really was.

I was able to narrow my search with the help of a couple of reed and caning supply specialists. Franks in Huntingdon Beach, CA was able to identify the flat weaver as Banana Leaf that had been braided and 'ironed' flat. I was able to come...

Who is TaleWeavers?

Occasionally someone asks about how we came up with the name TaleWeavers.  Our eldest son coined the name when he put our combined interests storytelling and basket/seat weaving together.  The name has persisted.  Over time the name had taken us personally on many journeys.  Our focus for the business today is the restoration of antiques, teach others, and share the historic crafts of handweaving.           

I started into making baskets about 35 years ago, when I took a Saturday basket making class that was sponsored by a nature center in central Pennsylvania.  I started making baskets for my family and wanted each basket to serve some purpose.  I found patterns online and in books at the library and made baskets that had some historic significance and had some purpose for the people who used the baskets.  I was fascinated by making baskets that each had a purpose.   

When I started weaving seats for chairs, I found myself wondering about the weaver that originally put the seat into the chair.  Who might this person have been, where were they located, and for whom did they work?  I also pondered the travels that each chair had...