Four
years ago after ten years faithful service I had to dispose of my old
leather reading chair. I was genuinely sorry to see it go but vowed
to replace it with something even better and set upon the idea of
constructing my very own reading chair that would not only be a
practical piece of furniture but also something to sit in during my
twilight years (well I am pushing 40 now) and recount how I had
crafted it with own hands. I had a specific idea in mind and two
years later with that specific idea in mind I happened to discover
this wooden chair (standing at around 4 foot) outside a second hand
furniture shop, I wouldn’t call it's construction amateurish but it
had almost certainly been someone’s wood craft project at one time
and the shop (that evidently didn't want it) sold it to me for £5. I
was delighted, I had snagged the bear bones needed for creating the
reading chair that I had always wanted for a bargain price. Having
brought the chair home with me I found a corner for it and revealed
my plans to my family, I was going to customise it into a Grandpa
Munster (inspired) electric chair. They were not convinced.  |
|
(right) Yvonne DeCarlo (1922 – 2007) as Lilly in the same chair on the
Munsters set
© Universal
|
I altered
the back of the chair and added some additional sections made up from
offcuts from previous projects and the chair soon started to take
shape. Now with the bear bones and initial shape I set about adding
the details that would define the chair, vintage style nails and wood
stain were added and removed accordingly to give an aged/worn look
(paying particular attention to areas where flaying or attempts of
escape might have taken place). As I wanted all the leather straps/restraints to look original and match I taught myself leather belt making and with a length of dark 'antique look' full grain leather and some 'antique style' half single roller buckles I fixed the aged/crackled straps in place with vintage style, brass upholstery staples. The metal hasp shackles were created using an old plastic pipe that I cut and then added hinges, spray painted and then attached to the arms with mirror screws. For the all important electrical insulators I called upon the skilful talents of Mr Andy Dingley of Atelier Fabry-Pérot who laser cut a few for me, I
painted them white and spray varnished them to make them look
porcelain adding that essential electrical look to the chair. Spare
lengths of black cable was threaded through the chair, wrapped around
and then connected to the insulators. The only part of the project
that I strayed away from the original design was the head piece
itself. 
Even though I already had an industrial style ceiling light
shade for the headpiece I found a Holme Angled standing floor lamp that provided a
rather nice frame to hang over the chair and so I opted for using it
instead, removing the lamp's standing base I secured it to the back
of the chair with an bracket clamp (designed for securing aerials to
caravans) then added smaller insulators on the headpiece before
attaching a line switch on the mains cable and removing all traces of
chrome with a can of gun metal grey spray paint and a dash of black
paint and popping-in a vintage Edison filament bulb! Having resisted
the urge to layer the chair with cobwebs the entire project was
finished off with a Gothic/Lily Munster inspired cushion customised
by Mrs Jones to assure that I would be comfortable while I sat in my
electric chair. So there you have it, I'm rather pleased with the end
results and delighted that I finally have my very own electric chair
and often get a 'jolt' when visitors to the studio ask to sit in it!
© Arfon
Jones 2017. All images are copyrighted throughout the world.
