Hi,
Although I'm a member of lots of other forums based around my hobbies it never occured to look for one for my profession. :-[
I'm based in the midlands in the UK and upholster full time from home.
I hope I can contribute to the group in someway and hopfully pick up some tips along the way.
Steve.
Welcome. Grab a cup of coffee, errr, tea, and join right in.
C'mon in Steve. I'll throw another shrimp on the Barbie..........oh wait....... that's the other place ;)......never mind.
Welcome anyway.
Yep another Brit here, but not in the UK ;D
Stitching in merry ol Espania.
Suzi
Hi Steve; greetings from the great white north,eh. Welcome to the neighbourhood.
;D and colour is spelled like that too. :P
hiya
me 3 ,
I'm Richard on the Norfolk Broads. Welcome to THE best forum on the whole web for sewing peeps..
Hi steve from sunny florida doing marine canvas $ upholstery theers there another british canvas guy RAF who pops on
Who was the kilt flipper from Aberdeen? I haven't heard of him in a while but he was a great guy. Jock ?? I think. Jock o 36 ???
I decided to give a hand and sent a post into social bookmarks. I hope the popularity will rise in.
Thanks for warm welcome fellas.
Welcome Steve. I don't know any other place where someone can call you a "sewing peep" and it won't start a fight. :D
I'm not a Brit. It seems to me that you folks across the pond are closer to the old style of re upholstery than we tend to be here in the USA. We do more foam, staples, poly batting, for example. I wonder if that's because of the cost of materials there and because you have a much greater recycling mentality that we do.
And isn't it amazing that whatever hobby you have you can always find others on the web who have the same hobby?
We are truly connected by the world wide web.
gene
Quote from: fragged8 on January 24, 2013, 03:15:34 pm
hiya
me 3 ,
I'm Richard on the Norfolk Broads. Welcome to THE best forum on the whole web for sewing peeps..
Surly second best Rich :P
Suzi
Hey Steve, DON'T listen to Gene!!!
He's just "setting you up".
Next, he'll PM you about membership dues. Don't send him any money. I sent him $39.95 a month for nearly 4 years before I caught on to his scam. I STILL haven't received my laminated ID card.
If you feel that you must make a cash contribution, send it to me. I'll make sure that it goes into the proper account. ;)
Sofadoc: Cash? Yes I think I remember that stuff.
Gene, most of my work is older stuff it's true, I've got a victorian deep button chesterfield I'm working on this week. It's still on the original horsehair. Like most I take what I can get within reason, new, old and anything in between.
There is a throwaway culture here the same as most other places, luckily I've carved myself a little niche with people who understand the difference betweeen cost and value, all word of mouth and it keeps me busy.
Steve:
We used to have several Brit's on here but kicked them all off...............:)
Nahhhhh.....Just kidding. Most Brits do not like associating with a bunch Yanks. Heck I have a hard time associating with these Yanks myself. :)
Chris
I'm of British heritage, though so many generations removed, I don't know how many. I've also worked extensively with a lot of people from Britain and almost all predominately English-speaking countries - Canada, Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, India, and Hong Kong. So I can adapt to the dialect. Never caught on to "Geordie" though. http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-do-a-geordie-accent First time I heard it, I wasn't sure the speaker was still speaking English.
Having also read a lot of British woodworking / furniture making books, I have learned (learnt) to translate:
g cramp = C clamp
rebate = rabbet
polish = finish
timber = wood
plough = plow
breaker stock = pile of old wood parts that someday might be useful
fad = wadded up rag
hessian = burlap
calico = muslin
bench saw = table saw
And of course, I know a bit of polite and not so polite profanity.
I truly enjoy the old style of re upholstery with all natural materials. I can see spending my retirement years learning more about such things and authentic restorations - picking and choosing what I will work on without concern for bills and time tables.
It would seem that sofa doc's wife caught him paying "someone" $39.95 a month for almost 4 years. Thinking fast, he blamed it on a scam a fellow upholsterer was running on this forum. I'm glad to be of help, sofa doc.
Maybe someday you'll let us all know what it was that you were actually spending your money on. ::)
gene
Quote from: byhammerandhand on January 25, 2013, 10:58:28 am
fad = wadded up rag
Never heard that one before, although the rest make sense. A fad can be described as a short term interest. So for example, someone may decide to start making wooden stools, which is outside thei normal subjects of interest. If they lose interest again quite quickly, then it was just a fad.
Just thought, a wadded up rag could be a "pad"? Not sure what else we might call it apart maybe from a "polishing cloth".
I haven't head of "breaker stock" either. A pile of surplus bits would generally be a "scrap pile". The word "breaker" would generally be used to describe a company that dismantles vehicles, as a car breaker. You would refer to it as "parting out" I believe.
For such a small island we do have a lot of dialects, and some of them are so thick I have trouble sometimes. Even words can have different meaning moving from county to county, go into a bakers in the north and tell the young lady she has nice baps, note the reaction. Try the same further south and get ready to run.
We treat swearing as our heritage and right and do it with aplomb, whenever possible, and even the worst words imagineable are used as terms of endearment at times.
Yes we are a strange race, but please never take us too seriously.
As for upholstery, we had many years of older stuff being sold abroad, mostly to the states. During the 80's container load after container load left here as the money to be made was astronomical. There's not as much about as there was but I get to do a lot of interesting stuff for a lot of people who have finally realised that there are not many upholsterers around now who know how to do traditional stuff.
I started my apprenticeship back in 1980, since then our manufacturing base has been raped and the apprenticeship schemes that went with it. It's sad to say but as the years go by fewer and fewer new upholsterers come on to the scene, especially those who can use hair and the like.
often referred to
' England and America are two countries separated by a common language.'
George Bernard Shaw
Eee by ekk, gorra nuvva bloody POME on here then av we .. :-*
I used to know a Stapler-Steve but he ran away to Spain many decades ago.. ;)
So jolly nice to have your aquaintance on this here new fangled tinta-web thingy
ol'chap. Can't stop to chit chat , must crack on.
Apprenticed in England, left for the 'States in 1980. Now sliding into semi retirement in the Pacific Northwest. Don't tell the wife though, she still preaches the american "work ethic" and expects me to be "at the bench" at least another twenty years. Don't miss much, well maybe a pint a pie and the footie!
1980 was the year I started my apprenticeship, as for the football? You can keep it. Never, ever understood what all the fuss was about.
:o Isn't that grounds for bannishment to the "Colonies"? That's like Canadian kids who never played hockey of curled. We send them to the states to play volleyball LOL