Rounds out this essential resource for crafters and collectors alike. Book jacket.

Give life to old cane furniture as well as weaving seats and backs for new pieces. Traditional techniques and new shortcuts make caning with wicker, rattan, raw-hide, and other materials easy. Useful charts detail how much fiber to buy and what standard lengths are available. "An excellent purchase for any size library."--Library Journal.

No longer will repairing your antique cane and wicker furniture be intimidating, frustrating or overwhelming! This instructive book from Jim Widess--caning expert and author of the bestselling The Caner's Handbook--will quickly and effectively teach you how to repair cane, wicker, splint, rush, and rattan furniture as reliably and authentically as the pros. With step by step instructions, fantastic color photographs, and five incredibly detailed seat weaving projects, The Complete Guide to Chair Caning will teach you everything you need to know about fixing virtually any piece of woven furniture. In addition to exploring the details of hand-caning, rush weaving, splint weaving, wicker weaving, and rattan wraps, you'll learn about: The history and production of caning How to use machine-made caning to restore an old chair Creating beautiful and intricate rattan wrap patterns for joints, teapot handles, and baskets Rattan processing Incorporating color patterns using paper rush to mimic the French colored straw-wrapped rush. Fashioning a durable and comfortable rush seat using long strands of fiber And much more The Complete Guide to Chair Caning will provide everything amateurs and hobbyists need to take on caning projects from start to finish. Experienced and beginning caners alike will appreciate the wealth of expert, time-tested tips Jim Widess has picked up in his three decades of renowned work.

Provides step-by-step instructions for weaving chair seats from cane, rush, Hong Kong grass, rope, twine, and splints, and discusses useful equipment and supplies

With 15 easy to follow, fabulously illustrated step-by-step projects, this book is just what the beginning upholsterer needs.

For centuries people have marveled over the beauty of plaited basketry; now readers can actually learn the skill and artistry of this craft in the comfort of their own homes. Scholar, artisan, and teacher Vladimir Yarish created all of the birch bark baskets for this book after scouring museums and archeological sites all around the world. This definitive guide focuses on the history and myriad traditional uses of birch bark, as well as general instructions for basket-making and plaiting. Get hands-on with 18 birch bark projects, both decorative and useful, including a rectangular tray, small basket with three-part braid, or an oval basket with curls. Finally, in the gallery section, take a look at plaited baskets by various artists using contemporary materials.

A guide to gourd pyrography--using heat to create works of gourd art--that discusses gourd prep and work basics, provides step-by-step instructions for several designs and techniques, and presents secrets from fifty artists.

Jim Widess and Ginger Summit, the best-selling authors of The Complete Book of Gourd Craft and Making Gourd Instruments, have done it again: they’ve produced another winner to delight the many crafters who work with gourds. Large, lavish, and astonishingly comprehensive, this breathtaking volume introduces every tool and every technique associated with gourd carving, offers fabulous projects that advance in difficulty, and presents a gallery of works designed to inspire. See how to choose and prepare a gourd, impress the surface with a design, and work with green gourds. The magnificent methods of decorative carving covered include fretwork, engraving, chip carving, carving with gouges, relief carving, inlay, and deep relief or sculptural carving. Throughout, color photographs of exquisite carved gourds present crafts styles from countries around the world. A Selection of the Crafters Choice Book Club.

Learn traditional chair seating using six-strand caning or rush weaving with marsh grass, straw, and alternative materials. These two crafts share the same skills and can be used for creating new seats or restoring old, so it is no longer necessary to ditch that old kitchen chair with the fraying seat. Instead, simply repair the seat or give it a new one. Clearly explained with 197 color images and diagrams, this essential guide will help you create beautiful seats on stools, chairs, armchairs, and more. For caning, instructions include preparing the seat, laying the cane strands, joining two cane strands, padding, and the materials and tools needed. Rush weaving techniques include making a strand by twisting straw threads, making the seat, tightening, and padding. Once you have mastered the basics of caning or rush work, they can easily be adapted for different seat shapes. This book is perfect for furniture makers, the home fix-it-upper, and the weekend crafter.