Category Archives: history

Crater Lake National Park CCC Table

The beautiful table (shown above after treatment by MPFC) was made for the Crater Lake National Park by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC.  Several pieces of furniture were made for the parks, such as the bench we … Continue reading

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SPANISH RED MASON MONTEREY A-FRAME

Note: We are adding older projects and updating (recreating) some which were previously posted because they were written at a time when tags and other web-based items were not offered on WordPress. This is one of them, and the older … Continue reading

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Mason Monterey Club Chair, 5 Cushion Buildup

This continues several posts on the preservation of a lovely Old Wood Mason Monterey Club chair from our client’s family. To see the excavation, go here. To view the finish notes, go here. For the seat buildup, go here. For … Continue reading

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Mason Monterey Club Chair, 4 Upholstery

This continues several posts on the preservation of a lovely Old Wood Mason Monterey Club chair from our client’s family. To see the excavation, go here. To view the finish notes, go here. For the seat buildup, go here. Progress … Continue reading

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Mason Monterey Club Chair, 3 Buildup

This continues several posts on the preservation of a lovely Old Wood Mason Monterey Club chair from our client’s family. To see the excavation, go here. To view the finish notes, go here. We begin the buildup by installing new … Continue reading

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Mason Monterey Club Chair, 2 Finish

This continues several posts on the preservation of a lovely Old Wood Mason Monterey Club chair from our client’s family. To see the excavation, go here. The original Old Wood finish is deteriorated. If the finish were in good condition … Continue reading

Posted in antiques, conservation techniques, decorative motifs, history, Interim Report, painted furniture, painted objects, preservation, reparation, restoration techniques, upholstery, wooden objects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Mason Monterey Club Chair, 1 Excavation

This begins several pages on the preservation of a lovely Old Wood Mason Monterey Club chair that has been in our client’s family. It has been reupholstered once with elk hides, but the original cushions are intact. As we uncover … Continue reading

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Susan’s Antique Crazy Quilt Repair

End of this year I had the pleasure of repairing on our client’s Grandmother’s antique quilt. Pleasure because as I worked on it the imagined original beauty came alive;  pleasure because our client is interested and excited! Our antique quilt … Continue reading

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Textile Conservation: Victorian Tea Cosy, 5, Beading

Continuing from our earlier post on searching for beads… This post, harder repairs. Side “A” had many more difficult repairs. Below is an example of what I shared with our client regarding the worst of her issues on the tea … Continue reading

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Textile Conservation: Victorian Tea Cosy, 4, Beading

I started on the easier side, “B” from the previous post, but now I move to the side that is far more damaged, side “A”. Note: These images are not in chronological order in this post. We will cover some … Continue reading

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Textile Conservation: Victorian Tea Cosy, 3, Beading

Continuing from our earlier post on searching for beads… The cosy has two sides, arbitrarily labeled “A” and “B” for reporting and discussion sake in the report. Some of the areas of the tea cosy have disintegrating linen warp and … Continue reading

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Textile Conservation: Victorian Tea Cosy, 2, Beads

Continuing from our earlier post… The difficulty in finding beads to match vintage beads is astounding! Clients and those creating new works are unaware that every day our commerce is trying to save cash by only stocking what is popular. … Continue reading

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Repairing Frank Crowe Mason Monterey Dresser

The repairs on the final piece of the lovely bedroom set is completed. MPF Conservation  does not repair/conserve historic pieces unless necessary. In this case, the veneered top was shredded and lifting. Mitchell gently removed the historic veneered top. We … Continue reading

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Historic Bedroom Set for Sale

Old Wood bedroom set (one half of the entire set) came from the historic estate of Frank Crowe; this is an excellent chance for collectors to own both good Mason Monterey, and also a piece of history. All items in … Continue reading

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Washington State Flag

My rendering of the Historic Flag, above. Below, the Historic Flag in the State Reception Room. We begin the process of replicating the Washington State Flag originally made by the Washington State chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution … Continue reading

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Restoration Award Celebration Dinner, The Event

Thanks to Drew Nasto for letting me use his images to place into sketch format to commemorate the night! When an artist draws, we remember. When we draw details, we get to know our subjects intimately. The simple act of … Continue reading

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Restoration Award Celebration Dinner, Kate’s Process

Mitchell and Kate attended the Restoration Celebration to raise money for the the 2016 Most Endangered Places, and to hear the winners of the 2015 Demuro Awards, as the guest of one of our clients, Karla Pearlstein of Restoring History. … Continue reading

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Process: Circus Ball!

The thing I love most about our business is that you never know what is going to roll into our studio for treatment! Earlier this year, a new client sent the images below, along with the image of his aunt … Continue reading

Posted in antiques, CAUTIONS, conservation techniques, history, Interim Report, painted furniture, preservation, process, reparation, restoration techniques, wooden objects | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Quilts as a Microcosm of History

I am sure that more eloquent history writers than I have written on the role of quilts as historical objects.  I want to share my perspective on the single object that we: see the most distress over condition issues, even … Continue reading

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X is for X-Chair: A-to-Z Challenge

An “X-chair” is one of my personal favorites, a chair with an “X” frame, usually folding but not always, also known as a Dante Chair, Savonarola chair (both Italian), Luthor chair (Germany), or scissors chair.  It is one of our … Continue reading

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W is for Windsor: A-to-Z Challenge

One of my favorite chairs, this often overlooked Windsors may have originated in Wales, Ireland and England, where wheelwrights creating chairs as they made wheel spokes, which were chairs using compression tension joints, with no hide glue holding the spokes … Continue reading

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R is for Récamier: A-to-Z Challenge

Récamier is the proper name for the chaise lounge or fainting couch.  It was named after the famous painting, below, of Jeanne-Françoise Julie Adélaïde Bernard, aka Juliette Récamier (1777–1849), a French society woman who led a salon in the early … Continue reading

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G is for Gadrooning: A-to-Z Challenge

Gadrooning is a decorative motif which reminds me of flower petals lined up in one direction.  On furniture, they are often an ornamental motif of uniform or tapering concave or convex shapes that often flank both sides of a central … Continue reading

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