Gottschalk Chair

To continue on from my last post, apart from the Erhard & Söhne clock, the thing I'm probably most pleased with from my box of broken furniture, is the Gottschalk chair I've restored.

Got to be Gottschalk!

I spotted the padded silk upholstery in the box and felt sure I'd seen it in Marianne Cieslik's extremely useful book of Gottschalk catalogue reprints: Moritz Gottschalk 1892-1931 (2000) - I'm sure I'm not alone in having memorised the photos in half the dolls' house books ever published!

The chair in the 1908 Catalogue in Cieslicks Reprints:
'Moritz Gottschalk 1892-1931' (2000)

And there is was in the reprinted 1908 catalogue. 

I then realised that most of the frame was there in the box too. In terms of the wooden parts, only the front right leg/arm was missing.

Surely I could replace one piece of wood and sort out some upholstery!

I started by cutting down and sanding an old piece of wood to the correct shape for the missing leg. 

Luckily, I found this pot of gloss paint in the extensive selection my husband has in connection with his model railway hobby.  I had to add a touch of black to darken it a tiny bit, but otherwise it was a perfect match.

The upholstery was comparatively easy. I cut a thin piece of plywood to the shape of the seat and glued some foam to it.

I then wrapped it in some antique cream silk I had in my stash and glued it on the underside.

Next I cut out some thicker balsa wood to form the arms of the chair. I stuck some thin foam to the inside of these and covered them in the antique silk too.

And here it is fully assembled. I used a gold Sharpie pen to do the lining on the replacement leg/arm.

Of course it's not perfect, but it's much better than I'd hoped for and I have to admit to being quite pleased with it!

Here it is sitting very happily in the study of Southsea Villa (restored C.E. Turnbull house, c.1900). 

Still more to come about the other items resurrected from the box of broken bits...

Until next time,

Zoe