Stick to Stickley?

I do both.

What I like & repros…

-- - Real men read directions

If you’re building for yourself, build what you want. Stickley changed pieces from time to time, why not you? If you’re building for a customer, build what he (or she) wants. Houses were layed out differently 100 years ago. Lifestyles are different. Authentic reproductions have their place, but so do pieces based on the originals.

-- http://www.grandprairiewoodworks.com

sometimes it’s fun to follow the directions and sometimes it’s to wing it. i also do both.

-- Roper - master of sawdust-

I’ve built some that are very close to the originals. Like Tim P said, you build what the customer wants. I like to keep the essence of the Stickley furniture, or Arts and Crafts style in general. I find myself starting to come up with my own designs, combining the styles of several of the old timers and incorporating some more contemporary design elements. I don’t like building exact replicas, mainly to avoid trying to pass off antiques.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

I agree with with tenontim. I would much rather build a piece of furniture that has the essence of a Stickly style, but incorporates my own designs as well. Not to mention, my love for A&C extends to the Limbert, and Byrdcliffe styles as well, just not limited to Stickly.
They are more of a souce for inspiration, rather them methodology.

-- MISSION FURNITURE-My mission is to build furniture

I believe if you copy something exactly then you should do so as a purist, but I mostly design stuff myself with a little help from my betters. Stealing or llong term borrowing others ideas as we all do makes us more creative at the end of the day. Alistair

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

If you build enough Stickley, or any A&C style, your own personality sneaks in whether you are aware of it or not. daveintexas is correct about the inspiration thing. I love the A&C “style”, and that is all I build, with the exception of a few gun racks that have been accompanied by substantial bribes. Any way, you always have to mess with things like leg height (to match modern sofas & etc.), then change other measurements to keep correct proportions, use different woods than purists would find correct, and sometimes create “Stickley” out of thin air because the customer wants something that Stickley or any A&C stylist never did. These last items are the most fun, because when they are completed, they could be right there in that catalog, but you did it yourself. Folks that build A&C a lot know the feel, the look, and the presence of a correctly built piece. It doesn’t have to be in a catalog or book. That’s what the movement was all about, anyway. As always, bbqKing

-- bbqKing, Lawrenceville