Back from the Finders Keepers market!

What a great week for Curb Collective! After the graduation night last Tuesday, we attended the prestigious Finders Keepers market, which happens twice a year in Sydney at Carriageworks, on Friday night and Saturday.

Maaike and Claire went early to the shed to prepare everything. A big THANKS to John Bartholomew who transported the furniture from Redfern to Carriageworks on Friday afternoon and the unsold furniture to The Bower on Saturday evening after the market! 

We had one of the biggest stalls there, which allowed us to display all our furniture, and we were situated just in front of the fashion room, so we were highly visible. 

A lot of people were interested both in our work and in joining the class, and the enthusiasm was palpable. We had a lot of questions about how the class had been set up, how we had found the furniture and the fabric, and a lot of customers asked if we we interested in restoring/repairing/reupholstering their furniture. By the way, we are! Send a mail to Maaike at gm@bower.org.au with pictures of your furniture and explanations of what you want to be done to them, and we'll keep in touch!

If you saw a piece of furniture during the market but hesitated to buy it, come and have a look here at The Bower! Some furniture were not sold, and they are in our consignment area!

Don't forget to follow the activity of Curb Collective on facebook too by liking the page: http://www.facebook.com/Thebowercoop

Graduation Night at Shed 107

Tuesday was a long day for Curb Collective! We rushed faster than ever to finish all our chairs in time for the graduation night on Tuesday evening and for the Finders Keepers market this weekend.

Sam and I sanded and painted two dining chairs on which we will put the butterfly cushions the group made last semester. You could feel our stress of not finishing on time, but we made it! Stuart and Mick finished another dining chair with the help of Maaike and Jeanette - one of the brightest of our collection: it's orange and red!

Miki and Dominique tried as hard as they could to finish the pair of yellow and pink chairs started at the Newtown festival, but unfortunately they would have needed more time as they refused to sacrifice quality to rapidity... You'll therefore be able to see them next term! They will be great as first pieces of the new collection!

Some students stayed after the class to set up everything for the Graduation Night. We were hugely proud and excited: our furniture looks so different when they are on platforms!

A big BRAVO to Maaike and Richard who created an amazing screen out of wooden doors found at The Bower, where they displayed pictures of the transformation of the furniture. This new way to raise awareness about reuse impressed everybody, and our only problem with it will be to prevent people from buying it at the market!

The Graduation Night was a great success. 5 different courses from TAFE Outreach graduated, among them our Shed neighbours WEAVE's construction and repair students who did an amazing job patching, fixing, organising and painting the shed and Hobo Gro who create vertical gardens in reused palettes, and, of course, Curb Collective!

And guess what? We already sold 5 pieces of furniture!!! So come as soon as you can to the Finders Keepers market on Friday and Saturday if you want to admire/buy our work, the furniture won't stay there for a long time!

 - Claire M -

December e-news

An early treat for you all - the December Newsletter for your reading pleasure, before the silly season kicks in and you've no time to think!

We hope you'll try and make this Christmas a reuse affair on all fronts - Those of you in the market for furniture sized christmas presents should be sure to come along to Finders Keepers at Carriageworks this Friday night 6-10 or Saturday 10-5 and pick up a genuine Curb Collective refurbished wonder.

A quick reminder also that we will be closed 24th Dec - 2nd Jan inclusive so hold on to your donations till we get back please!

The Home Stretch

With only 3 more classes before Curb collective graduate and show off their debut collection at Finders Keepers, there was no messing around this week!

Pete got stuck into a second coat of choc-walnut stain on the dining suite. Mark elected to start a brand new project, taking on the challenge of the 'mummy chairs' it took 4 hours for Mark, Sam and Sam to strip just one of these uglies back to basics. They won't be recogniseable when the group are finished with them though!

Jeanette and Jane chose a lovely red jaquard for an occasional chair - all Jeanette's research on upholstery is obviously paying off!

Fiona got a lesson in measuring and mitring timber from Cathy, using a length of old skirting board that provided just the right channel for her latest project - a perspex topped coffee table.

 Speaking of tables, This table was donated to The Bower with the top raw and unfinished. We took it to Curb Collective to see what they could do.

In between classes, Lesley tightened the legs and applied widths of walnut laminate to the top, she added a few coats of diluted timber stain to make the top match the legs and now it's ready for resale!

Finished with the table, Lesley joined Min and our newest collectee Tanh; applying the patchwork of fabric swatches to the plantation chair. The group learned how to cut templates on the fly, to fold, roll, niggle and tweak until the edges can be tidily tacked into place.

Next week we'll put the back on and our two big upholstery projects will be complete!

Miki and Claire were determined to finish their duck egg blue timber arm chair - but not at the expense of perfection! The pair worked very hard to match their stripes and make their final stitches invisible.

We stayed back for 20 minutes in the end, so determined were we to finish the chair!And voila!

 You can't appreciate the delicate blue/lemon stripe on the back of this chair from a photo - you'll have to come and see us at finders keepers. Here's a peek at other things you'll see if you stop by the Curb Collective stall on the 2nd or 3rd of December;

 

All proceeds from the sale of restored items will restock our shelves with paint, glue, laquer, needles and thread so we can keep flying the reuse flag in the city of Sydney.

Fabric Fantasies - Week 12

Time is a funny thing. It feels like we're only just getting started, but we're already on the home stretch to exhibition. By the end of next week we should have most of our chairs finished.

Miki and Fiona are working on a 50's timber arm chair. Last week Miki found a lovely blue and lemon stripe she wanted to use, but there wasn't enough to cover the whole chair. We were fortunate to find some new duck egg blue linen to help our reuse fabric stretch the distance. It's hard to believe but this will be finished next week, Timber arms and all!

Speaking of timber, Sam and Jeanette got stuck into the choc-walnut stain, giving our ever-growing dining suite a brand new look. 5 of these chairs have Street banner seats ready to go, and a very similar looking pair have elegant neutral seats. We're waiting till that stain is totally dry before we put the seats in place though!

Min & Leslie started a sample swatch patchwork for the timber plantation chair. In their absence, Emmanuel chipped in, completing a third section of patchwork for the outer back of the chair. Next week this will all suddenly be finished too!

And finally, we attached and covered the backs of some chairs, an d learned about using hot-glue-guns (scary stuff around fine silks!) to apply decorative trim so the backs of our parisian triplets could be completed.

There are other projects in the pipe line - a small table that Leslie is going to laminate, a pair of steel table legs sprayed up and attached to a new (recycled) timber top, and a bedside unit or two - proving we can break the chair mold!!

Can't wait for next week?! Stop by The Newtown Festival and say hi to Curb Collective and The Bower This Sunday 10-4

-Maaike

Curb Collective Week 11

Now that we know we will participate both in the Newtown festival and in the Finders Keepers Market, it was high time for our group to find a name. After a lot of propositions, one finally stood up amongst the others as it reflects different aspects of who we are and that we do during the course : we are a group attached to the reuse of objects nobody wants anymore, transforming the trash into treasure... We are CURB COLLECTIVE!!

With this new name in mind and only two weeks before our first display at the Newtown Festival, we were faster than ever this week! We are trying to finish as many projects as possible, working in groups to be quicker: time is running out, we will sell our furniture in only 5 weeks!

Richard, Dominique and I worked on the beautiful French metal chairs. After dozens of tries with all the lovely fabric we have, we finally took the decision to have the seats brightly striped, and the backs covered with flowers and birds. It was a good time to remember what Maaike had taught us a few weeks ago about reupholstering with a striped fabric. Indeed, the stripes have to be perfectly parallel to the side of the seat and to be perfectly straight, which means you have to apply the same pressure on each side, or they can quickly become bumpy and wavy. And to finalise the chairs, we added an orange dust cover. Next and final step next week: to assemble everything!

Mark finished his black velvet chair: after the cushion he had made a couple of weeks ago, he added a lovely bow to its back this week with the shiny diamante studs we ordered from China. Now this chair is fully finished! If you love it, come to admire it next weekend a the Newtown festival!

Mikki and Stuart took care on a large chair: they put a mountain of flock on it before adding the dakron so that it would be very comfortable. We can't wait to know what fabric they will choose to give it its final look!

Jeannette and Michael went on with the armchair they started two weeks ago: they put linseed oil and re-webbed it. It is now completely unrecognisable when you compare it to the poor armchair The Bower received as a donation months ago!

Do you remember the set of 4 red stools we finished a month ago? Min put linseed oil on it, with the project to have a set of two stools completely different to the four first ones: these two will be more classical and more sober, fitting in any house!

We are sure that new amazing furniture will be created in the short period of time before the festival and the market! And it's absolutely wonderful to be a part of it!

- Claire M

October e-news

Those of you who watch our blog regularly score lots more info and photos of weekly life at The Bower, but sometimes things sneak into the e-news sheet that haven't made it to the blog yet - like this year's AGM!
The date has been set, and active members should keep an eye out in their inboxes and post boxes for their invitation and full details.

Not an active member? Get in before the 15th of this month if you want to join us for a night of nibbles, drinks and discussion.

Paint, oil and other fun things

Wednesday came around again and the enthusiastic team of Furniture Reuse and Restore students assembled at the Redfern workshop to continue our projects and learning. Once again it was a 2 team approach, but with lots of swapping over of personnel between the woodworking and upholstering teams so that most got some hands on experience with both.  
 

A lovely old Oak Armchair is coming along very nicely with the re-springing completed, and the timber arms sanded back ready for varnishing.

At the upholstery bench a team was eagerly continuing work on a set of Romanian chairs that are being converted to more modern looking stools. Extra attention was required to day due to the tricky re-assembly of 8 chairs into 6, and some parts requiring a little hand work to get things together.

At the timber work bench a set of children's size bench seat and table was being continued with a lot of drilling and screwing work required to get them all together. In previous weeks the timbers had been bevelled, sanded, and oiled in preparation for this assembly, and today was the day.

All the team took a hand in the work and gained first hand experience in the use of power drills to drill, countersink, and install woodscrews. Thing wet very smoothly and before long the benches started to take shape

Mention must be made of the spectacular ‘bring a plate’ lunch. Once again people broght along an amazing assortment for our buffet style lunch, and it was an culinary success. Special thanks must go to Maaike for preparing not just one, but several delicious dishes. There was no shortage of dessert either with cakes, strawberries etc galore.

Somehow we managed to push on after all this into the afternoon with our projects getting further keen attention, and many getting very close to completed. Some of the converted stools were even able to get the first coat of brilliant red paint

And the Oak armchair was oiled with linseed oil. You’d never believe it had once been discarded. 
 

We all look forward to continuing next week…..

-Glen

Bowerography 2.0 gets hands on!

Saturday September 10th, 2.00 to 4.00pm – Bookbinding Demonstration

 

 (book and pic by someone else)

 
BOWEROGRAPHY 2.0 is in full swing. We'd love to see you next Saturday at The Bower for a spot of DIY bookbinding, or if that's not your cup of tea, maybe some aromatic candle making the following Saturday or DIY upholstery after that.

All Bowerography events are free and held in The Bower Eco-Library  (up the stairs in the middle of the shop) Hut 34, The Addison Road Centre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville.

The noble art of DIY bookbinding is the topic for this coming Saturday. So sign up for some seriously creative re-use. Joanna will show you how to bind scrap books, notebooks, albums and more from re-use stationery and other salvaged materials in The Bower.

Saturday September 17th – Candlemaking
Our lovely co-op brothers and sisters from Alfalfa House have kindly donated some beautiful homegrown bees wax for this candle making workshop. We will show you how to use unused bric-a-brac, glass jars and bottles and everyday packaging to create beautiful centrepieces, gifts and mood lighting options. Come along to this wonderful demonstration and take home some beautiful candles!

Saturday September 24th – Upholstery
Suppliers, materials, techniques - anything stopping you from doing your own re-use upholstery? Stop by for an upholstery demonstration and ask any questions you might have. This is not a BYO workshop as space is limited, but you will learn sound basics of DIY upholstery.

Please RSVP to reserve your place and pass this on to your friends and networks. All are invited!

Week 2 in Redfern 107

We have rarely encountered a more enthusiastic bunch of people, the new space was alive with chairs being pulled apart, benches being sanded and planks stained.

Our Reuse Repair Recycle Furniture classes continued this Wednesday with the second week of teaching timber and upholstery skills in our Redfern Workshop space.

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The Group split into two with half focusing on timber, finishing wooden benches and staining timbers ready for next week and the rest of us getting stuck into our upholstery again.

Some people grabbed the larger chairs we started last week and some of us started stripping 3 new metal frame chairs that came into The Bower the day before.

Everyone worked at lightning speed now starting to feel confident with even the most dilapidated of chairs, and before long the gorgeous timber and cane arm chair from last week got it's final sand and we started re-weaving the base with hessian strips and adding coconut fibre to match the back of the chair we had completed the week before.

Maaike focused on the retro armchair and showed us all the special tricks to replace the unusual missing spring with a new one and then tie off the springs before adding a layer of hessian sack ready for padding and the final layers of fabric.

We all decided the old fabric on the metal frame chairs we found the day before was too tatted and damaged to save and set about pulling out all the staples, which takes a little bit of time but with five people pitching in and taking on three chair it was finished in no time at all, and once we had stripped the fabric off the back and seat they were in surprisingly good condition and all that was left was to deciding what look we wanted and what salvaged material we would cover them in next week.

The single old dining chair which started the day with just its springs re sprung, also got a lot of love with every one of us lending a hand to sand the frame and before you could blink - re-web, stuff and cover the back and seat, then add mountains of recycled flock to the seat ready to be squashed down into a plump cushion.

We really can not thank all the participants enough for such an enjoyable day, everyone helping each other and working as one giant team to accomplish vast amounts of work and breath new life into the forgotten chairs, everyone having fun with a smile on their face making reused creations out of 'junk' to last for generations to come.

- Richard