If you have fairies, (and who doesn’t?) you must know a major problem with fairy furniture is that it tips over. What with the uneven terrain, wind and rain, crawling creatures and clumsy fairies, most fairy abodes look like they have barely survived an earthquake.
When I decided to make a few chairs for the local fairies, I wanted to make them stay upright and in position under the rough circumstances they live in.
First I cut a 4 1/2 inch section from a one-inch piece of fallen hardwood branch, oak in this case. Select a recently fallen piece so no rot has set in.
Then I marked off the parts I wanted to cut out. Starting on one cut end, I marked a cutting line about two-thirds the way across.
Then I followed that line down the branch about as long as I wanted the back of the chair to be and marked a line perpendicular to the branch where the top of the seat will be.
Here’s another view showing how the side cutting lines are a continuation of the end lines.
Then I did the same for the other end, meeting where the bottom of the seat will be. Putting the branch in a vise, I cut along the lines to cut out the chunks which reveal the seat and seat back and the underneath-the-seat area. You can see below where I’ve already started to make the first cut.
If you make the center cuts first, the parallel cuts can be made with a chisel since you are working with the grain at that point. This is what it should look like once the cuts are made.
Finally, I used a sharp carving knife to whittle the underneath area to a blunt point.
This is to stick in the ground to secure the chair for the convenience of the fairies.
Put the chair in the fairy garden.
By the way, there’s a theory floating around the house that the bad fairies are responsible for the oil spill which has disrupted the good fairies’ habitat. Food for thought.