Today, after an early morning shift, delivering in Peterboro’, I continued working on the writing desk. Is it a bureau?
Things reached a frustrating impasse, regarding sourcing appropriate fabrics. I needed something that’d work as hinges, as well as cloth for the base and the folding writing slope.
My first attempt at ‘fabric hinges’, using some kind of woven plastic tape (from Storey’s, in March), was an abject failure. I tried using wood glue to bond it, but that simply wouldn’t adhere to the plastic. I wound up having to remove the ‘tape’, and clean up the glue residue.
After lots of ringing around, trying to find local haberdashers with the right material, I eventually went to Ely. Looking to get better hinge material, and – hopefully – the green velvet for the folding writing surface. City Centre Cycles duly obliged.
Cleaning up the base was a lot more work than anticipated. Firstly due to the ancient and very dusty fabric remnants, and secondly/mostly, on account of the remains of a very sticky adhesive.
There was also a crack to be dealt with. I thought about using two part epoxy. But I wound up plumping for plain ol’ wood-filler. After all, the crack will be protected by and glued to a new baize cloth.
Better. But, alas, a bit of a balls up. I used spray adhesive. Which is effective but horrid. And, as can be seen above, one edge of the baize/base doesn’t quite align right.
Once this was done, I glued the new fabric flaps – using card or paper like material called buckram. I used spray adhesive again. This appears to have worked much better. Certainly way better than the wood glue failure!
At this juncture it seemed appropriate to re-attach the two ‘halves’. I used all new screws. One screw had been a nightmare to remove. As a consequence the hole that was left was a bit oversized. A bit of cocktail stick, sanded down and tapped in to said orifice, made a workable plug.
Projects like this are usually plagued – at least in my experience – by minor irritations. Perhaps avoidable, with better planning and forethought? A significant one arose at the end of the day: the new green velvet for the writing slope wasn’t sized correctly.
It was my own dumb fault, frankly. In taking the bureau apart, I’d forgotten that the original cloth was a single piece. I’d allowed myself to think I’d be re-covering the two halves separately… Doh!
This necessitates another long trip to Ely – poss’ prior to S&F tomorrow? – to buy an appropriately sized piece of cloth.