Antique-shop.com
Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: talesofthesevenseas on May 23, 2013, 12:12:08 AM
-
I picked up this little cabriole legged cutie on Craigslist for $10 today. Can anyone estimate the age? It appears to have been through several modifications. It will be another project piece, I was instantly charmed by the way it crouches, and looks like something that would come to life and dance in a Disney cartoon. I think there is a neat little footstool under that Peptobismol pink paint! It is very tiny, only 6"H x 10" square. There are several sets of writing inside it:
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Footstool1-1_zps2c67cd6c.jpg)
The upholstery is modern, the stuffing is polyester fiberfill.
(http://s181.photobucket.com/user/talesofthesevenseas/media/Footstool1-1_zps2c67cd6c.jpg.html)
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Footstool2-1_zpsee5354cf.jpg)
This one says "J HILDER 74 NOV" I am guessing that November of 1974 was the date of the most recent reupholstery and painting.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Footstool5-1_zpsbb45d158.jpg)
Underside view. The plastic sliders are a later addition.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Footstool4-1_zps571fdc05.jpg)
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Footstool6-1_zps725924f2.jpg)
There is very faint writing here, it says something on the left like "Paid" or "Fixed" and on the right "Mrs. Miller". The first image below was taken with a flash, the last image was enhanced in Photoshop to bring out the writing.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Footstool7-1_zps293abb13.jpg)
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/Footstool9_zps7744f9e3.jpg)
-
when they are this small, they are also known as a Gout stool,.and i can see where you are coming from...with the legs..i could imagine one of these above those legs.... age wise, i,d put it at around late 18 century...early 19...
-
Can't wait to see the "after" photos!!
-
Can't wait to see the "after" photos!!
be patient Man.... ;D
-
Wow, 18thc early 19th? I had no clue it might be that old! I had only seen the slanted gout stools before. This does look like it was intended for a single foot. I took a good look at it in the light this morning, looking for saw marks. There are no signs of a circular saw and while the legs look pretty uniform, I can see a slight variation in the curves of the spans between the legs. I can't see any signs of hand tool marks, probably because of the layers of paint. There is a funny mark on the spans between the legs, but this appear to be on some kind of extremely thin wallpaper stuff or in the paint. In just the right light I do see vertical straight saw marks, that go against the grain of the wood. This is cool, I didn't expect this.
Here's a pic of the wallpapery stuff and the marks in it, It is at a crooked angle to the piece and is over the top of the straight saw marks in the wood. Is this some sort of papery liner that would have been on a roll pulled through some kind of machine? It is only on the underside, its so thin it's almost like paint. I've never seen this stuff before.
I will try to get a pic of the straight saw marks.
-
Here's a pic of the straight saw marks. You can just barely see them running vertically in this pic:
-
Gout was a common affliction,to the Landed Gentry...during Victorian times....as they lived off the fat of the land,and the backs of their tenants....
-
Looking closely at it, I can see a few places where the pink paint has chipped off and under the pink paint is my arch nemesis, lead-based paint in faded green. :( I swore after spending weeks on the china hutch that I would never take on a lead-based paint removal again, but here I am again. The problem is that even the best stripper won't get the lead-based stuff off. It gets down into the grain and sanding is the only way to completely remove the dreaded stuff. I hate to take sandpaper to something this old. Now that I know what it is I looked at a few on Ebay and it looks like the stool is worth about $100 or a little less. (not bad for a $10 investment!) I'm rethinking the project and the best solution might be to paint the paint for now until technology improves and there is a better method to remove lead-based paint. Any suggestions on how to proceed gang?
-
Cool little item , talesof !
Looks quite sturdy & solid .
Footstools of this size/type were also used by women during hand sewing/embroidery activities , so as to elevate one knee slightly to ease fatigue a bit .... early-day ergo device , if you will ...
Perhaps you might consider , as you'd mentioned , encapsulating the old finish with a base primer/paint & then do some neat faux-woodgrain finishing ?
I've found that small items with such 'issues' are prime subjects for such work & often come out way nice .
There sure are a slug o' items that have been painted with the lead-containing/based paints ("Lead War" , a recent book , details much of the American history & culprits of the paint biz ... including some old images of children [in adverts] painting toys with Dutch Boy paints) !
-
Yes, it's very solid. (The bulldog photo Bigwull posted early is a good comparison!) My use for it is that it is just right to make a step up into my Chinese wedding bed. Mostly this is for my twenty-two-year-old cat, but I use it too. I was thinking I could imitate the old red Chinese laquer on the bed and leave the gold as it is and reupholster the top in the same subtle gold fabric as what is on the bed.
(http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x124/talesofthesevenseas/ChineseBed29.jpg)
-
OK I hate to play the heretic, but for lead -based paint is a vat stripper an option? I know that it's harsh and is not a first choice, but I've seen commercial vat refinishers work miracles on seemingly hopeless cases.
-
my suggestion would be...either get it sandblasted,...or strip off the fabric, and give it a caustic bath....and remember to remove the little plastic floor protectors...before hand.
-
I've never done a "dip" bath. Is that a do-it-yourself kind of thing or something I would take to a pro to do?
-
I found this recommendation (see page 3) of a product called RemovAll 310 for architectural porous surfaces. It's non-toxic, no masks, no goggles or anything else needed. http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,386353,00.html (http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,386353,00.html)
-
Try that first. If it doesn't work, take it to a vat stripper. These are usually professional furniture refinishers.
-
Looks like Napier, the company that made this product no longer produces it. OK a vat may be the way to do this.
-
As this stool is so small,..you could easily give it a caustic bath,in your back yard,...ideally you would need a container big enough for the stool to be submerged in,..Caustic soda works best when it is heated,..i have used it in the past, when i had an old Triumph Bonneville,i used to give the engine casing a hot caustic bath,...and then a lot of elbow grease polishing,..i used a 45 gal drum with the top cut off, and put a portable gas pot burner underneath,then brought the solution up to 140/160deg,...this is ok if you are going to be doing it on a regular basis,..but for this teenzy weenzy stool, you,d be better off,giving it to a stripper.. ;D....No Not that kind.... ;D.
-
I've got a message in to a furniture restoration company, asking them how much just to do a "dip" to remove the paint, and no further refinishing. I really don't want to deal with it in my backyard for this one piece. Interesting to know how it's done though!
-
One problem , other than the 'rough treatment' of wooden antiques stripped via a 'vat-dipping' method , is that the chemicals will often damage wood glue (since the stripping chemicals pretty much penetrate every nook & cranny , esp those in even 'tight' joints) .
The slurry residue created by the solvent process will also be left behind , in some quantity , in hidden/unseen areas ... often stripping businesses claim to fully wash & neutralize the solvents , but that is something I've yet to see .
Compressed air is frequently used , in the 'wash/neutralizing bath' process , and in this old mans' opinion , serves to further force the old ca-ca into the joints .
Dip-stripping antique wooden furniture is like using a bulldozer , when a small shovel would do the job (IMO) !
....not to say that folks don't refinish via this method & find it satisfactory , though .
-
Thanks Fancy, that is good to know. I'll skip that option then. Painting the paint is probably the most responsible thing I can do and it won't do any further damage.
-
Oh Tales I love her! Maybe try a pickled finish, of a white or off-white pastel to tone down the pink & gold to a more gentle sweet color.
-
what is it with you lot....have you all gone nuts...and as for not getting it vat dipped...i,ve had it done many times,...on much larger items, and, yes i will admit, i,ve had to re-glue joints here and there...but the end result..far out-weighed that....as for this minute stool, how hard can it be,for you, ..Tales....to give it a good soaking and rinse yourself,after getting it back from the stripper...then.if you are unhappy with what you see, you can paint it with a more eco-friendly paint,instead of still having that lead shit...underneath.. .
-
what is it with you lot....have you all gone nuts...and as for not getting it vat dipped...i,ve had it done many times,...on much larger items, and, yes i will admit, i,ve had to re-glue joints here and there...but the end result..far out-weighed that....as for this minute stool, how hard can it be,for you, ..Tales....to give it a good soaking and rinse yourself,after getting it back from the stripper...then.if you are unhappy with what you see, you can paint it with a more eco-friendly paint,instead of still having that lead shit...underneath.. .
Hear hear! Wullie's best post yet! Deserving of a mango!!
I will ALWAYS keep the original finish if possible, but in this case it's not. There may be nice wood grain undernearth, in which case you would be doing a diservice to the stool and to yourself to paint it. If not, THEN you can paint it. Like Wull says, the end results of stripping in this case will FAR outweigh any issues it may cause.
-
Tales;
If you decide to clean it up yourself, look into the following product...just follow the label, and let it do the work.
(That lil' stool is as cute as a bug's butt.)
http://www.franmar.com/paint-removal/ (http://www.franmar.com/paint-removal/)
-
.Those Soya Beans,...Love them or Loathe them,but you can,t beat them,..you can eat them...wear them...drink them....and now you can strip lead based paint with them....Mmm!....Wonder what they do to your Intestines...... ;D
-
Well, I've been mulling the options over in my head and since I want to use it with the Chinese bed and match it to that, the best solution seems to be to paint it to match. If I remove the paint, I would then have to paint it red anyway, since there is no wood showing on the bed. This way there is no harm done and I get the match that I want and I can leave it unharmed for someone to restore at a later date.
-
Humbug....never took you to be a cut corner kind of person...Like me.... ;D
-
Well, there's a bit more to it than meets the eye. After going through breast cancer a few years ago I have done my best to reduce my exposure to chemicals as much as possible. Even though it probably was not the cause, I prefer not to be exposed to stuff if I don't have to. Stripping the lead paint inside my hutch was horrible, the mask alone cost me $50 and there was blue lead paint everywhere. The best stripper I could buy at the time only did a marginal job when I unexpectedly hit a lead layer beneath the modern layer and ultimately I had to sand it because it was down in the grain. This was even worse, making the particles airborne. I really don't want to go there again, even with this little stool if I don't have to. I also lean strongly toward preservation. Since stripping it would still require refinishing or painting to match anyway, why do it, since I can paint over it and match it that way without doing any damage to what is underneath? If I were going to use it with a piece of wooden furniture, that would be different. But since it is going with my Chinese bed, which is red lacquer with gold paint, It doesn't make sense to strip it.
-
From the general tone of things in this thread I figured you'd end with this decision. I could counter that having someone else do the chemical work would obviate your concerns, but I think this race is run.
Glad I got to express my views though!
-
Its been a bit like swings & merry go rounds,....