After seeing the Alice an Wonderland chairs I made for the wedding one of my friends asked me if I would like to make a chair for an upcoming Beauty and the Beast play he is working on! Knowing this was for Angels on Stage, I couldn't pass up the opportunity! We had been introduced to Angels on Stage by my same friend a year or so earlier after they found out we were having an Alice themed wedding because that is what they were doing for the years play! It was an awesome experience! Angels is an acting stage company that serves the special needs community of Northern California. My friend is also the lead set builder/fabricator and because I can't help out this amazing organization with more of my time, I decided I would happily make the chair so at least the kids can have a cool throne!
Knowing what worked and didn't work with the Alice chairs I had a head start on this project! I happened to run across a website that had collapsible medieval style chairs and immediately I knew this would be perfect for a stage prop because when all is said and done this chair FOLDS FLAT! Whoo! The seat, sides, back piece and arm rests are all held in place using pegs! The sides have slots where the seat goes into and you put a wooden wedge in it, so it can not be slid back out! Fantastic! It was a pain in the butt to do, but worth it!
I also immediately wanted to incorporate the rose into the chair, so I started reading about using resin because I had never used resin before! I always challenge myself to attempt to learn a new technique etc on every project. I cut the rose out using a scroll saw and then added resin to each relief. The resin was colored using a few drops of acrylic paint! The resin does not mix well with water and while the acrylic is water based it didn't seem to do any harm using a very tiny amount! It really only took 2-3 drops mixed really well! I did not use enough catalyst, so I did spend the better part of the afternoon with a small blow torch and took the rose portion home and stuck it under a light bulb and it is now almost dry! Live and learn I suppose!
It stores flat!! Yippie!!
