The Seat Weaver's Workshop Blog

It's almost time to bring out the porch furniture and get the 3-season room opened up. In some areas of the US, spring is well underway. Living in Erie, along the lakeshore of Lake Erie, winters tend to stick around. Like most of my neighbors, we are well over the snow and are getting primed for the spring season. We got one of the late season snows yesterday. Just a nuisance snow. They say that we can expect 3 snows on the crocuses before the spring is here to stay, but I haven't even seen the crocuses yet. Despite what folks think, we do get four seasons in this area of the US; Almost Winter (fall), Winter, Still Winter (spring), and Road Construction (summer).

I am starting to get some calls about wicker and summer furniture that needs to be repaired. This is a good time to inventory what needs to be done in order to ready the summer furniture for the upcoming grilling and outdoor occasions you and your family enjoy.

Wicker and Rattan furniture are wonderul pieces to showcase a welcoming porch, 3-seson room, or entryway in a home. This furniture is woven with natural fibers, so there...

There are times when I come across a weaving project and I have trouble finding the right materials. Today, I got a beautiful chair that probably belongs on a 3-season porch. It is woven with a flat leaf that have been braided into a 1 inch flat weaver. The entire chair is woven in a traditional basketweave design, with this leaf weaver, and it is a big arm chair.

To be honest, this is the second time I have worked on this chair. I am being asked to repair the top corners of the arms of this chair. It seems a pet dog has enjoyed teething on the edge of the arm. The damage this time is limited to the round reed braiding that makes up the edging of the chair. The first time I saw this chair, I pulled my hair out trying to find out what this flat braided weaver really was.

I was able to narrow my search with the help of a couple of reed and caning supply specialists. Franks in Huntingdon Beach, CA was able to identify the flat weaver as Banana Leaf that had been braided and 'ironed' flat. I was able to come...

Who is TaleWeavers?

Occasionally someone asks about how we came up with the name TaleWeavers.  Our eldest son coined the name when he put our combined interests storytelling and basket/seat weaving together.  The name has persisted.  Over time the name had taken us personally on many journeys.  Our focus for the business today is the restoration of antiques, teach others, and share the historic crafts of handweaving.           

I started into making baskets about 35 years ago, when I took a Saturday basket making class that was sponsored by a nature center in central Pennsylvania.  I started making baskets for my family and wanted each basket to serve some purpose.  I found patterns online and in books at the library and made baskets that had some historic significance and had some purpose for the people who used the baskets.  I was fascinated by making baskets that each had a purpose.   

When I started weaving seats for chairs, I found myself wondering about the weaver that originally put the seat into the chair.  Who might this person have been, where were they located, and for whom did they work?  I also pondered the travels that each chair had...