AppRidge Chairs

05/30/2026

I’ve enjoyed designing these patterns and am looking to do more different patterns.

10/01/2024

This past weekend I taught a Weave a Stool class at the Exchange Place in Kingsport, TN, during their Fall Festival. The class was small but very productive and fun.

01/28/2024

We had a great session at Exchange Place in Kingsport, TN, on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday weaving stool seats using 5-mm cane. Five students completed their stools using the single diamond pattern, a double diamond pattern and an undulating twill pattern. I hope to offer this project as a class soon at Washington College Academy in Limestone, TN.

09/25/2023

I am honored to join Brie Flora and Sherri Hunter as a Tennessee Craft Master Artist in the Master Artist Apprentice Program (MAAP) offered in partnership with the Tennessee Arts Commission. MAAP is designed to open the door for artists to learn traditional and contemporary craft skills from master craft artists. Visit tennesseecraft.org/programs/maap to read our bios and learn more about the program. The Master Artist Apprentice Program was created to help artists reach the next level of their professional development from a six-month one-on-one mentorship, not typically available in most learning environments.

Tennessee Craft is now accepting applications for apprentices in the three MAAP areas: jewelry, sculpture and seat weaving/chair caning. I hope that Tennessee seat weavers and chain caners who wish to advance their skills will consider applying for the apprenticeship. The application can be found here:

https://www.cognitoforms.com/tennesseecraft1/maapapprenticeapplicationfy2024

06/26/2023

There is a great opportunity coming up July 14-16 in Fitchburg, MA. A chance to learn a whole lot more about seat weaving and chair caning. Come to Fitchburg and join other chair enthusiasts for a delightful weekend.

It's time to register for the 16th Annual Seatweavers Guild Gathering! Click on the link to learn more..There will be a focus on chairs from New England! Heywood-Wakefield, Hitchcock, Keene rockers and more....
Get together with seatweavers from all over the country and share the skills of seatweaving.

https://www.seatweaversguild.org/2023-gathering

10/11/2022

Third day of caning in my Chair Caning class at Arrowmont. Everyone has completed steps 1-2-3-5. Looking forward to seeing results with all the daisy patterns.

03/24/2020

Just finished this rocker with honeycomb in the seat and back before getting homebound. Will get back to more chair caning after I finish a weaving project. The rocker is being sent to Arrowmont later in May for the Instructor's Exhibition this summer. I am scheduled to teach chair caning at Arrowmont for a week in November.

12/11/2019

In July I was elected Treasurer of TSWG. In September, Nancy Rafal, previous Treasurer of TSWG, stopped in TN to pass along the Treasurer information while she was on her way to visit family in NC. We had a very enjoyable visit with Nancy, ate lunch in Jonesborough, and visited the planned site for the 2021 Gathering in Jonesborough. We look forward to her visiting with us again in the future.

12/11/2019

I recently purchased this beautiful wheel chair in a local estate auction. It has buggy seat springs and metal wheel with no rubber around the wheels. We think that it might be dated to the 1860's, maybe after the Civil War. The press-in cane needs to be replaced all over. The question my wife and I are struggling with is whether to replace the cane with cane like what is there now with the traditional pattern or to replace the cane with one of the beautiful fancy woven canes and make this an art piece. Suggestions?