This week I was able to do the finish sanding and stain the 8th version of the John (Jennie) Alexander chair. I made six of these for the kitchen last year and I liked them so much I think I'd like to stay in practice and try and make one or two every year. This year I agreed to do a demonstration for my Brown County Woodworkers Club so I made three of these chairs for that demonstration in various states of completion to teach various construction aspects. I finished #7 last week and took it to work so I have something in my office to show my co-workers. This week I finished #8 which will probably go at a small kitchen desk.

This also gives me a chance to show some photos of how you weave the seats with paper cord or synthetic rush. Paper cord is simply long strands of brown construction paper tightly wound and then sold in huge coils. It's the same material you use for paper bags. But it works just like natural rush. You weave it with an over under, over under figure 8 motion which creates a three ply thick of paper cord for a very strong seat. About halfway through you stuff cardboard cut into triangles to pack the layers between each layer. This helps add bulk and take up any space between the various layers.

Finally I glued up a practice mold of plywood in the shape of a horse's head to practice carving a horse head for Rafaella's rocking horse. I used the same templates as the rocking horse but restricted this copy to just the head so I should have identical copies. I want to make sure that I practice once before I actually carve the rocking horse head as that will be the most difficult part. I didn't have time to practice the carving this weekend, but if it turns out ok, I plan to mount this one on a stick for a portable hobby horse.