I Build Willow Chairs for Pleasure and Profit

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This is when the beauty of the finished chair really starts to show.

THE SEAT

Now's a good time to take care of those three leftover mid?length framing members we spoke of earlier. (See the end of the section on Bracing.) Nail two of these pieces across the top of the seat?as shown in Fig. 1 (framing members 8 and 9)?and place the third one a few inches up on the seat back. To find the optimum location for this third crosspiece, run a small—1/2" X 3'—willow from the front of the seat to the back, and up the backrest . . . then position the crossmember beneath the bend in the seat willow so that it just touches the seat back AND the small willow. Mark the spot, and nail the crosspiece there (see Fig. 1, framing member number 10).

All you need to do now is install the seat willows, which run from the front of the seat to the back, and up behind the oval headrest (Photo 7). Space these willows no more than an inch apart, and attach them to the seat frame with small nails. Afterwards, you may want either to [1] cut the willows off flush with the seat's uppermost horizontal framing member, or [2] let them run on up to the arched headrest and fan 'em out (or, perhaps, bend them into curlicues).

And?oh yes?sit down and take a rest. You've just made your first willow chair!

WHERE TO GO FROM HERE

When your first chair is finished, probably every member of the family will feel that he or she needs one. And your friends (if they're anything like mine) will try to wheel and deal you out of your finished product, thinking it's more difficult to build than it really is.

Moreover, total strangers will offer you money for your handiwork. In my case, hardly a week goes by that I don't sell $200 worth of willow goods (including not just chairs but footstools, settees, and other items). Once, I sold eight $12 chairs and a $40 settee in only three hours! (All I did was set up a display along the roadside just outside the unincorporated town of Paradise, California.) And?not long ago?I made a 57-day tour of the United States . . . financed entirely by the sale-in flea markets and along roadsides-of handmade willow furniture.

Besides that, if you're into barter, you'll have no trouble trading willow chairs for items of equal?or better?value. (That's how I got my goat, and the jet pump for my shallow irrigation well!)

IN SHORT . . .

Whether you seek the independence and personal satisfaction that come from being self?employed . . . or you just enjoy creating beautiful, useful things with your hands?or both?you just may find what you're looking for in willow chairs. I know I have!

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