Meditation Chair

My better half had asked me to make her a Meditation chair,she had seen one online that took her fancy and printed off a picture with some dimensions,so…off to work I went on it….

I took my folks old dining table,an old kitchen chair,some scraps of pine and two legs of the same dining table and started to take some measurements.I wanted a low and wide fronted chair, curved seating area,low back and low arm rests that would not infringe on ones knees when sitting crossed legged-lotus position,I think that’s the correct name…I know that I could not sit that way…

......anyway..moving on… I then started to cut,carve,re-cut and re-carve,the sounds of Little Feat playing in the background…I was in heaven again,shavings of wood flying all around me,memories of my parents and sisters sitting down to a Sunday dinner at the dining table as my saw starts its first cut into a mahogany leg,... ‘Jasus’ Jem, what the feck have ya done to your mother’s table?’....were the words of my father I heard ringing in my head as the leg hit the floor.But all was well and each piece of wood was beginning to take its shape and form.I stripped down the old kitchen chair of its rustic paint and fitted it into its desired place alongside the curved seat,then sanded,planed and rounded off the base of the chair.

Now for the arm rests,I had the two legs of the table for the upright supports and used some more of the table to make the ‘rests’ – used my Grandfathers office chair to make the ‘rest’ templates and jigged them out – then a few sandings later the chair was ready for its first coat of paint.

Six coatings later and sanding in between the chair was finished and ready just in time for Christmas.Even though my parents are not about today I think they would like the finished product,maybe not quite understanding its purpose,but liking the idea that something of use has been restructured and reused.

...Little Feat album… Time Loves A Hero ..1977.

-- Jim McCutcheon,Dublin,Eire.