Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.

Welcome to the grand finale of my latest restoration!  I spent Friday trekking to my friend's to retrieve my diamond chair, now all welded and super shiney in it's gloss black powder coat finish.  I started the trip by swinging by WXPN's free at noon because it is totally free and a great place to hang out when in Philly on a Friday!  ​I almost talked myself out of stopping for foam thinking I could fill with cotton I already had. As I was waiting to get on my ramp to cross town I realized that was a dumb move as the supplier I go to in Philly is a wholesaler and if I get home and decide my cotton idea sucks, my only choice is Joann's and that place is overpriced with a not always stellar selection.  So I got off 676 at 8th and headed to Katz's Upholstery.  I decided on 1/2" foam and got 2 yards.  I took my roll and headed to NJ.  My friend was at work so I collected my chair, left him a Vanagon part I picked up for him the night before at our local supplier, used the restroom and headed to an estate sale he tipped me off about.  Due to my slow recent sales and our strike situation, I was not in the market for much but I did snag 2 pair of vintage Sears binoculars and a cool melmac ash tray.  

I left town with a kick ass cherry pie and headed back to PA, just in time to take my kids to a dance at their school.  ​Of course I was thinking about my chair while my kids were dancing to 'shake it off' but the work would have to wait!  

Saturday I got to work on the cover.  Over the last week I opened the seam maybe 12" or so, then dumped out the powdered foam, scraped as best as I could at what was stuck to the fabric inside and washed in the tub by swishing in cold water with a mild detergent and rinsing a few times.  I did test the fabric and it is indeed wool.  I hung over the side of the tub to dry so as not to stretch the fibers.  

Washing the cover.  Yuck, eh? 

My first step was to cut the foam.  Remember, I am using in a 3-D contoured situation, so I realized I would need to compensate.  I started by cutting the left side to match the side of the chair.  Using a bag of flour to weight the seat down, I followed with the right side. There is excess foam now that needed to be removed so I decided I would cut a V out and the center top and bottom, then spray adhesive to close it up.  ​

Removing the foam excess to contour the seat. 

My spray adhesive idea worked well once the glue started getting tacky.  I placed the foam inside and evaluated.  I thought a little cotton would help fluff it out a little so cut a piece the width of the chair and put on top of the foam.  The kids tested and said yes, the chair was comfy and they loved it!   

Kid tested. 

So this morning I got to work sewing it all back up and then took my pics.  I did decide to list the chair because I have a lead on another I could repeat this on and would like to save it if I find a home for this one.  So here are some pics, see listing on etsy for more details if you are interested and please send friends! If you know anyone looking for furniture and appreciates my era, please send them to my shops!  I would greatly appreciate the referrals! ✌🏼️  Thanks a bunch and thanks for all your support!  I had a great April in the mall!  Xo Malissa https://www.etsy.com/listing/279478194/knoll-harry-bertoia-large-diamond-lounge

Naked.  Look at her shine! 

In her threads. 

Besides the foam deterioration, the cover is in great condition!  Charcoal wool with some orange ombré into white threads through like stripes.

The shock mounts were cleaned and conditioned.  They would be expensive to replace but luckily, these are still in great condition.   

Original label dates this to the 50's.  I suspect this is an early production chair.  So happy I could help it get ready for it's next 70 years! 🎉 

LAST CHANCE FOR SALE AT SHOP!

It's Extravaganza weekend at Renningers!  Coming out to Kutztown, PA for the shopping festivities?  Make sure you stop by the space at Fleetwood Antique Mall!  We are only about 3 or 4 miles south of Kutztown on Route 222.  I think I will be camping this weekend but we are making the call kind of last minute due to our situation....aka, this strike is showing no signs of ending at this point.  With that said, please peruse my online inventory and reach out by Thursday evening if there is anything you'd like to see in person!  I will get it there for you and make room for it.  I left some new things there over the weekend and plan on adding some more this week but really don't know what will be hot so really trying to think about it.  MY SALE IS ON through the weekend....one item 10% off, 20% off multiples.  Many other vendors and running sales too and the mall itself is a great eclectic mix of genres and NO CRAFTY CHALKPAINT CRAP!  So many co ops in our area are filled with the junk to jazz crowd and you won't find any of that at our mall which is one reason I really love it there!  Hours WED-SUN 10am-6pm.

Pic from the weekend.  I will probably add some more items this week! 

NEW EBAY SHOP!

http://www.ebay.com/usr/madmodworldvintage?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

I am not a huge fan of ebay for selling but when you have LOTS of inventory you need to move, you get desperate to try a new venue, ultimately meeting more folks and picking up new fans.  I moved my Heywood end tables fast so I will be cross listing more furniture over there.  Please note that ETSY is my lowest fees so if you are looking for something, I do prefer sales via etsy if you have to choose.  I was able to work with my customer through an offer but ebay is definitely not set up to handle that like etsy, but is still better than chairish.  So it is a learning experience!  My favorite thing is there is NO vintage restrictions so I am currently offering my retro themed kitchen towels in that market and they are really flying out the door!  I can get more fun items like that from my wholesaler and do longer run buy it now listings which is very cool and I will definitely shop for more once my cash flow picks up.  If you shop in my ebay store, PLEASE do not forget to leave feedback!  I really need some since I opened this account brand new for my business dealings.  I have been buying and selling for years on ebay but needed this new account.

Primitives by Kathy is known for their awesome kitchen towels!  I try to pick up some that fit my themes.  You will find these, boomerang themed and camping themed towels in the eBay shop. 

DIAMOND CHAIR

I have not seen my chair in the flesh yet but I was thrilled to get some pics back of it all put together by my dear friend!  I am a lucky girl!  It looks great!  I am still working on the cover as I ended up putting it on the back burner last week packing up the end tables and then I picked up some new chrome dinette chairs over the weekend that I started cleaning.  IF ANYONE is looking for a diamond, I would consider parting with this one only because I know of another for sale locally that I can hopefully get and restore.  I do not have the budget right now to buy it myself, but if someone wanted this one I could do it.  Please message me.  I just realized yesterday you can order new production large diamonds at $2500!  My comps lead me to believe one with minor issues; rust, covers with crunchy foam, to go for about $1000 and major structural issues would be less.  I would probably list it at $1200 or so on the open market, as restored.  I would go less for a friend and fan.  Please reach out of you are looking for one and we can talk.  They are such a treasure, much larger footprint than I imagined, but so very artsy and stylish!  If you have the means to accommodate, it is a stunner! 

Here she is all restored! 

I am available most weeks for deliveries on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Please reach out if you are in the eastern-central PA areas, NJ, NE MD areas!  I may travel farther depending on the situation. 

Have a great week! Xo Malissa

Thank you and welcome!

I know I picked up some new followers this week and many folks stopped by to check out my shop and web page.  Thanks for coming!  I appreciate knowing people care about what I do!  Lots going on in the last week in my personal life and as many of you are aware, Verizon is on strike.  My husband is a technician there so we are really in a position right now.  I do appreciate any sales no matter how small as my hours at my job are now at about 12, which really is not going to help much in our household.  I am working hard listing and promoting, but I am at the mercy of the market and with that said, I actually have been cross listing a few items on ebay and set up a shop there.  I really do not want to sell in that market but at this point, I just need to sell.  Please share my info with anyone you know who is looking for items I have!  With that said, I have an album of Pyrex I plan to take with me to a swap in May.  You can find it on my Facebook page:  Facebook.com/madformodmalissa PLEASE stop by and have a look.  I will ship any item you wish, so please email me or message via FB for a shipping quote.  I also just listed a few items I never planned on selling from my personal collection including a JAJ yellow snowflake space saver and an orange Cathrineholm lasagna pan with carrier.  If you are in the market for them, act quickly as I do believe these items will not be available long.  If they are not sold by the time my husband gets back to work they are going off the market. 

The spring sale at my booth space in Fleetwood Antique Mall is in effect through the end of the month.  10% off a single item, 20% off multiples. All of my pyrex will be removed at the end of the month for my swap meet. 

Back to the Diamond Chair…...

This beauty is coming along and I hope to have some pics early next week.  It was determined the original finish on these 50s era wire diamonds is definitely a baked on finish similar to powder coating.  I know the current finish is Rilsan, a plastic which the chair gets dipped into and I believe would sand blast off.  The blaster decided that my finish did not need blasting and his powder coat would adhere to it as is.  He arranged to have it welded at the end of last week and I chose gloss black as the finish for powder coating.  I am dying to see it!!!!  There is little info available on the Knoll site on these classic chairs as they are only selling the smaller, dining height chair now.  There is a limited edition 24K Gold plated version out in honor of the 100th birthday of Harry Bertoia.  The whopper price tag is $2000+!  Surely it is beautiful to those who can afford it!  And of course, a fabulous tribute to such a great artist.  I am ready to tackle reconstruction of the cover but have been moving slowly only because I shifted gears to try to get more things listed and promoted.  I hope my next update has some pics to share, even if they are taken at my dear friends home in NJ!  With that said, the fellow who has been doing all of this coordinating is xtremeblasting.us.  He has done 6 old metal chairs for my friend plus some items at his home and my chair.  Prices are beyond reasonable!  I do not know what my welding is going to cost yet, but he quoted me $35 for the blasting so for that price, why do it yourself?!  Sometimes you have to pick and choose what battles you are willing to do yourself……I prefer wood over metal.  

To close, I will add a few pics of a little photo shoot I had today for some of my chairs.  Sometimes I think my pics really suck!  I don't have a nice wide open space to photograph nor proper lighting inside.  I try to take them all outside in natural light as I do think that is the best showing of the colors.  Today the sun was setting, and that always gives a bit of a warmer glow.  I set up in the grass today because some of my favorite vintage ads have to be Dunbar!  I purchased the only affordable book on them last year when I was restoring the pair of dining chairs I had.  A lot of the ads featured in the book were taken outside in the grass.  This chair lover is kind of loving that feel!  Do a little search and find some to check out!  If you are ever lucky enough to find some Dunbar items, covet them as they truly are the best made and most beautiful furniture I have touched to date!  xo Malissa

Orange accents.  Reasonably priced Viko Baumritter in Vinyl, Heywood Wakefield in Vibe Sunkissed fully restored and swoon worthy.   Indian Sari quilts in my shop as well!  I have 4 at the antique mall and 2 at home.  Great for music fests, picnics and soccer games.  Twin sized.  

Baby blues.  Would love to keep them together as found but will split them up.  Beautiful new Vibe Aquatic upholstery and restored worn arms to original champagne.  I am a huge Heywood fan and collector.  Much love was put into all 3 chairs and each took about a week of labor to restore.

My cute photo bomber!