My name is Glynis Manning and I'll be 60 years old in February 2013. Having finally discovered what I want to do when I grow up (!), I've begun a placement working as an 'Upholsterer's Apprentice' with Stephen Ball (Stephen Ball Upholstery) in Cliburn, Cumbria. This is a very exciting and unique opportunity to learn a new skill, equipping me to develop my own business as an upholsterer in the North Pennines.
As I embark upon my adventure, I’ll learn the full range of
traditional and contemporary upholstery skills I'll require for the major
element of the placement: upholstering 26 pairs of seats for a 1936 Gresley
Tourist Third Open 60505 railway carriage currently being renovated to its
'as built' condition.
I feel privileged to be contributing to this historically important restoration by Stainmore Railway Company at Kirkby Stephen East, who developed the placement in conjunction with the North of England Civic Trust Heritage Skills Initiative. It has been made possible thanks to funding from a local trust, private individuals and the RDPE (Rural Development Programme for England).
The Journey Begins ...
My family home is Upper Weardale in the North Pennines,
Co. Durham, but at present I'm living a
few hundred yards from Stephen's new workshop at Cliburn, near Penrith in
Cumbria. I'm enjoying exploring Cumbria, especially the mountains and lakes. I wake to a distant view of Blencathra, beyond the fields
and woods outside my window.
I'm kitted out with strong, thick soled, steel toe-capped work shoes (vital if you want to withstand staples and tacks) and a strong apron with a big pocket. The bursary has equipped me with my first and most essential upholsterer's tools: professional quality tack lifter, staple lifter and webbing stretcher. A magnetic hammer will be joining this trio shortly, now that I've had chance to try a couple of different ones to choose the type I prefer. I've certainly had plenty of practice: yesterday I webbed the oak frame for a chesterfield sofa, using black and white herringbone webbing, requiring 390 nails to be hammered into the hardwood frame. This type of webbing, made of a jute and cotton mix, is the strongest and is used for traditional sprung frames.
The nails are hammered in a 'W' pattern, 3 in a row under the turned over end of the hessian, with the final 2 above them to create the 'W' for strength. The webbing has to be pulled extremely tight, using a webbing stretcher. The test is that you can play each length of webbing in the seat like a double bass!
It was very satisfying to see Stephen sitting on it, feeling well supported, after I'd finished it off with a hessian covering, having carefully cut it to fit around the wooden frame.
I'm racing ahead... back to my first day: arriving at the workshop at 9 a.m., I had my induction to the placement and the workshop, with Lisa Rothwell-Young (NECT Co-ordinator) and Stephen Ball, covering all the essentials: paperwork, health and safety/safe workshop practice, etc. I also met Juliet, one of the three part-time staff, but had to wait until the following day to meet Margaret and Rex, who complete the team.
We work on the furniture on massive knee-high work benches, which makes access much easier and safer and is much better for the back! My first job on Monday morning was stripping down a heavily buttoned chaise longue (134 buttons to be removed), using my tack lifters and pliers. I soon realised why Juliet wore fingerless gloves! My left thumb became very sore, as I used it to hold the tacklifter down, preventing it from suddenly jerking up into my face. My daughter, who's a design and technology teacher and jeweller, is sending me some thumb bandage and a leather thumb protector in the post. Thanks, Laura!:)
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| This photograph shows the technique: here I'm stripping tacks from my own pair of chairs at Stephen's class on Tuesday evening in Penrith. Working on my own project at the class is part of my placement. |
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| Regulator |
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| Buttons on cord |
In the afternoon, I was shown how to make a covered button for some bar seating and to my surprise finished all 64 we needed to finish the job by the end of the day (shown here on cord, ready for use in the seat backs a couple of days later). The pleats created by deep buttoning are teased into place using the regulator - the flat end of a long steel instrument. The other end is pointed and is used to insert under the fabric to adjust the distribution of stuffing, such as horse hair.
I've discovered 'that ripping' (not literally!) or stripping the old upholstery off furniture is the best way to appreciate how it goes on and just how complex it is I had plenty of practice during my first week, working on a sofa with Rex on Wednesday, as well as an armchair on and off over the next couple of days in spare moments. I'm also appreciating the difference between a traditional hardwood frame and mass produced modern sofas. Obviously, higher end contemporary sofas can be just as good quality as an old sofa, but made using some modern techniques, including staples.
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| A traditionally upholstered sprung armchair |
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| Pleats around the scroll arm end. |
Customers are offered the choice of traditional or contemporary upholstery when having an old piece re-upholstered. Obviously, the old methods take longer: for instance, using tacks rather than staples is much more time consuming, and therefore more expensive for the customer. Some choose to combine staples and tacks; for example, using staples but having the final dust cover tacked into place - the only place where fixings are actually visible (and then only when the furniture is turned upside down).
On Wednesday afternoon, I worked on the final stages of a newly upholstered chair with Stephen. First he demonstrated the technique to be used, let me try it on scrap materials and then use it on the chair itself. The first technique was 'back tacking' the back of the chair in place, then using slip stitch to stitch the left side of the chair whilst he stitched the right side, and finally tacking the dust cover in place on the bottom of the chair. He was happy with my work and I was elated - especially about the hand sewing. I discovered that my preference is for the medium sized curved upholstery needle, having tried small, medium and large.
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Stiff card tape is used for back tacking, stapled to the chair, following its shape, before the fabric
is pulled back over to conceal it. It creates a straight edge along the top of the back of the chair.
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| The seam to be sewn is pinned with large pins known as 'skewers'. |
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The dust cover is cut
around the legs .
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Staples can be used, but tacks - or
more precisely, nails - are more traditional. I've discovered that, confusingly, both staples and nails are referred to as 'tacks'. |
On Friday morning, I packed the car with everything I needed for a weekend visiting my family, before heading off to work. I finished webbing the sofa, before setting off with Stephen to a customer's house after lunch to do a quick sofa repair.
Writing the blog has been a good exercise in revising all the processes I've learned in my first week. It's gone really quickly and I'm raring to go on Monday. I've learned so much, but know I've got far more to learn. A good start, though. Stephen's plan to provide so many varied learning experiences has just whetted my appetite for more and I'm looking forward to making a start on the train seats, too.
Before starting the placement I spent a great half-term holiday with friends and family, who were interested to hear about my forthcoming adventure. One of them suggested that, once the carriage was in use, they'd all come up to Kirkby Stephen East to sit on 'my' seats and have a ride on the train. It seems a brilliant idea to me and something to really look forward to.
Week Two - The Adventure Continues
I couldn't wait to get back to work on Monday and looked forward to what the next few days would bring.
