Monday, September 19, 2011

Family History

When I was 26 with two children, I began an interest in antiques, my family history and just history in general. My mother came from a poor family that worked farms around Michigan, while my dad's family had a hardware store in Northville Michigan. They are both gone now, but not without leaving me with a great appreciation for what has gone before. This same sense of hard work and history is what I would like my kids to have and remember what it took to get them where they are.
I started caning after finding nobody in the area that could. Little did I know that it would become a passion and end up with us in business as not only doing the cane work but providing cane materials to people all over the country and world.
My daughter started helping me with the work. She took to it so naturally and has developed her own shortcuts and individual method. Adrian has caned so many chairs now, I can't even begin to count.
Caning helped me provide monies for education, weddings, vacations and extra fun things too. My hope is that both my kids will someday become interested in the value of the old, the great craftsmanship and time it took to make furniture and put the seats in them. I hope to find someday, tape marked with their names in back of furniture that they want because they appreciate their family history.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Memories of a Cane Rocker


Congratulations are in store for this grandmother on the birth of her first grandchild. She found this chair in her basement and tons of memories came to her as this was the chair she used to rock her child in...now she can rock her grandchild in this same rocker. We have so many cane and rush chairs in our home and each tells a story of children, grandchildren, cats, where we purchased them, who gave them to us - even how a foot went through the bottom. I dare say you have some cane and rush chairs in your homes that tell a story...we'd love to hear about them.