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Welcome to the Dovetails site
August 2008
The first french polishing class was yesterday, it was an interesting event with a huge amount of information to impart in very little time. We had a class of six students, each by the end of the day had managed to prepare colour and polish a piece of wood. Some had brought their own piece for those who did not there was a piece of american black walnut supplied to work on.I think all were pleased with the eventual results, though I don't think anyone realised the time and preparation that polishing actually takes. All class members had to mix their own colours using spirit stains, mix and use different types of polish, become familiar with using a mop, a rubber ( a pad used by french polishers ), this we all done with varying levels of success Shona's being the most interesting! We then waxed and buffed giving the piece a lovely depth of finish.
Ian Mc Aslan at Smith and Rogers the company who had actually put the course together was fantastic. He had laid on all products each student required and made the whole undertaking run like clockwork. He had even produced a small polishing kit for a student to purchase at the end of the event it must have taken hours. He also supplied a lunch and copious quantities of tea and coffee.
Smith and Rogers have been supplying polishes for the past 130 years They are situated in Elliot street in Glasgow and have a huge range of polishing supplies. There staff are extremely helpful and knowledgeable about their products. They supply both modern and traditional materials.
http://www.frenchpolishes.com/
Well things are moving along rapidly at the moment. We have quite a bit of work on and are trying to plough our way through it all. As yet we have no plans for our now traditional party but once things calm down a bit we shall be letting you all know . So look out the party frocks . Wee Liz is otherwise preoccupied with Emma's 18th so all other plans are on hold.I think we are all surprised by the amount of stuff that has come in already, we have enough to keep us going for a few weeks and our diary is filling again and that is without advertising . Though Lizzi yet again has done all the window graphics, for the last time I hope.
The shop looks much better now we have the windows done and the paintings on display.
I have been occupied with the allotment and preparation for the classes. have a look at the trinley braes section ,you will see it has been a fabulous year for growing stuff . No news from the scottish decorators but will update as anything comes in. I have added some more stuff to Lizzi's section, some of her portraiture I hope you like it, I just love the picture of wee grace.
I have added a new section to the site before and afters ,I am hoping to put up some examples of our work ,it is just in preparation just now but I am hoping to get a few hours to fill it up once I have collected more material. Finding time to spend on my projects is proving difficult I think I have too many irons in the fire . I am usually exhausted after a day at the plot or the shop by the time I get home it is hard to start concentrating on the computer stuff . Hence the reason I am up at 5 in the morning catching up.
Maggie has been up quite a bit though I think she prefers working from home, she has been doing some cane work and some woodwork in her shed in her garden.
JULY 2008
Here it is the new shop still a bit of work to do but we are now open for business. It has been a long wait but we have had a week of new and old customers. Sold out on the first Saturday so we are having to work like mad to get things finished for display . Hoping to get the pictures up this week , I was designated to climb the ladder to put up the new sign,we have discussed the size and think we are going to have to do a larger one!
Lizzi has just spent the weekend doing the window graphics,so I shall have to update this picture soon .
We have still got to put the web address and phone number up, but have just to wait for the phone connection!
This week we got a large overmantel mirror in to be gilded it must be 6 feet long and about 4 foot high , Liz is hoping to do this, gold leaf is back in fashion its the second project in a week the other is an early victorian french gilded chair. We also have a large marquetry cabinet waiting for veneer repair and polishing, I am hoping to show these as works in progress ,and put up a photographic record.
JUNE
We finally got the lease signed for the new premises and have been in,stained and polished the floors. Hugh got the rest of the stuff out of storage so hopefully we will get things going in the next week or so .We have a load of work waiting now , plus the stuff we have collected over the last few weeks. We are just waiting for the insurance and public liability to kick in and thats us up and running. We have a pile of work still to do but can now see an end to it, we are all a bit frayed round the edges.
Well things are moving very slowly at the moment we are still waiting for completion of the building, the story is everyone is waiting for completion certificates.
MAY 2008
Glasgow Metropolitan have their showcase for the students this
week, I went in and had a look at the work produced this year by the
restoration and design student. It was an interesting afternoon, on
receipt of the showcase event material, I had telephoned a
representative from the Scottish Decorators company to accompany me to
view the show. We spoke to a number of students who seemed a little frustrated by the being unable to
finish a lot of the work due to strikes earlier on this year by
lecturers.Although I have been assured that this has been solved by
offers of "catch up time" or a "drop in " service available to assist
students, there was also an offer of evening class time free of charge available.
We
were surprised that the show seemed to be still in preparation, this
was on Tuesday the third of June at 2 .00pm well into the event .
Fortunately
I do have experience of the importance of presenting students work.
When the graphic design department was in Dornoch st ,there was a day
for potential employers to view student work, this was always extremely
successful and by the end of the course most if not all students had
job offers or at least places to courses they had applied for. This was
some time ago, and things seem to have changed.
Some of the work was exceptional
May 2008
We are a group of furniture restorers with an in house artist.
The
news is that we have been contacted by the Partick Housing
Association,thay have just completed the final piece of the housing
action ongoing project.A small forward thinking group had a vision in
1975, it was partly the result of the 1968 storms which ravaged the
city and damaged thousands of homes. The city had thought to demolish
and rebuild , the other option was to modernise the structurally sound
tenement buildings and keep the community infrastructure.
Our
venture only started a few years ago ,but has meant we now seemed to be
part of the regeneration of this particular area. For years there was a
group of shops near my home which seemed to cry out for use. We decided
to find out who owned them and see if we could rent one and sell our
furniture restoring skills in a traditional way. From day one I was
sold on the odd wee shop that had lain boarded up for so many years .
The surrounding neighbours must have thought we were mad particularly a group of middle aged women borrowing a scaffolding unit to put a home made exterior sign up in mid winter, in the freezing cold . Mind you I watched the workmen taking the old sign down a few weeks ago it took four of them a whole morning to dismantle it !
We washed ,cleaned ,scrubbed and eventually opened to our surprise and I am sure everyone else's we were in business. Though the support we got from the local population was unbelievable ,the neighbours were so pleased to see the shops open again . We had an opening party and were overwhelmed by the support of others, one lady even supplied an indian buffet for the evening others brought wine ,food and a huge celebration cake appeared too .It was in the early hours that our guests left . The next day we had to start the serious business of trading to our surprise people started to trickle through the door and we were in business. I am sure there were those who had us earmarked for failure from day one, we hung on until it was decided to refurbish the building. Now the housing association would like us to return to the premises that they have earmarked for us.
There has been a number of changes to the business format .We decided that the business needed updating. We have discussed the changes and at the moment are seeking advice on how we move forward . Maggie has decided to involve herself in the shop rather than setting herself up alone in Lochwinnoch, she finishes college in a couple of weeks and is viewing working alone with a great deal of trepidation. The solution would be to work in the shop and gain the skills and confidence necessary for her eventual goal ,working for herself.
Myself I am extremely wary commiting myself to a full time restoration career. I have suggested that an upholstery course would be a route I would be interested in ,eg. a Saturday morning three hour class for possibly four people.
Liz feels she needs to use her skills, full time employment being the ultimate goal ,she has spent years studying and working towards this and now is her time .
Lizzi has carved out a wee niche for herself and is able to assist with most projects we encounter ,she also has her own career as an artist . she too is interested in classes so we will have to wait and see how things develop over the next few weeks and months .
Here is a snap of the two shops on the left is the old dovetails shop and on the right the new project. As you can see it is still work in progress.
I am very fortunate I can keep an eye on progress from my home, hence the odd photo angle.
It has been almost a year since we had to move out of our home in that time we had to move to an area that was unsuitable for our needs. We eventually had to close the project and felt as though we had failed .
What I am hoping for is a sucessful business, this would make a considerable difference to our lives. We are more determined than ever to give it a go.This time the everything is much more expensive and with all other outgoings it is going to be difficult , fortunately we have experience and each other, now we are aware of all the pitfalls.
The layout should assist as we now have specific areas for working ,the space has been designed to meet our needs, clean areas for polishing another for upholstery.
Wee Liz ,Fefe and I all met at the College of Building and Printing now the Glasgow Metropolitan. It gave us the skills we now use in our day to day business, each of us have found our particular specialities. We use only traditional methods, our polishes are mixed for each item with spirits, shellacs and dried pigments. Our upholstery work too is traditional, tacks and magnetic hammers are the order of the day. No staple guns all horsehair hessians and calico's.
Even our glue is traditional.
We can turn our hand to modern finishes when required, this can be seen on the Scottish Decorator section of this site .
Our skills include .
Traditional Upholstery preferably pre 1930.
Traditional french polishing, hand finishing .
Cane work
April
It has been a busy few months since my last entries on this section of the site. I have worked like a dog on the allotment by mid feruary I had all my plot dug and was anxiously waiting for the manure delivery . I had also managed to clear up the wildlife plot and do a bit of work on Lizzi's ( she had hurt her back.)
Wee Liz and I were away for a few weeks on the Oceana ,we had a hoot .We met loads of folk we hadn't seen for ages and spent a lot of time in the bar ,the only place to have a cigarette so hey ho .We did head into town for a meal one night with Mike, it was a treat and a first for us (being invited out for a meal).
There were the usual sorties to the supermarket for prawns, roast chicken salads and of course the essential lovely wee bottle of wine . You can catch up with this in the Scottish decorators section.
We have a wee network of restorers we can recommend if required just use the contact details at the contact us section of this site and I shall try and sort something out .