Yet another chair, but a slight departure from tradition. The No. 4 is a smallish, lady’s bedroom chair, this one with a woven back. However, normal Shaker practice was for the bottom edge of a woven back to fall one tape width below the arms. In my view, this is too high to provide much lumbar support, and it leaves an wide opening between the seat and back that pillows will fall through.

My solution was to extend the woven back several tape rows below the arm. The result is a chair that fits like a bucket seat. Very comfortable in all respects.

Another issue is making the rocker lean back at a proper angle. The lean-back is created by having the front legs extent farther down from the stretchers than the back legs do. (See photo #2.) The question is by how much. After some trial and error, I now calculate the front legs’ extension by multiplying the distance between the centers of the front and back legs by .095. Sounds nerdy but it works for Shaker chairs of all sizes.

Also, the fifth photo shows my “photo studio.” I place the object in the shade with an old sheet as a backdrop. I then park our white car in the sun to act as a reflector. The result is a photo with no hard shadows but a warm glow from the reflected light. I then use Photoshop Elements to remove the background and replace it with a gradient and a soft shadow beneath the chair.

Chair frame is of soft maple, dyed with water-based aniline dye and finished with a mixture of tung oil, linseed oil and varnish rubbed on with 0000 steel wool. Seat is woven with 5/8″ wide cotton tape.

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