Like most artist and small businesses, we’re forced to take a break from business during this covid- 19 quarantine. Time doesn’t seem to mean much these days, yet time is everything these days! Time to spend in reflection, study, prayer, family and projects that have been waiting for time!

After my Mom passed, my Dad handed me an old children’s rocker from his basement. I had seen the rocker but really didn’t know anything about it. He said, “This was Mimi’s childhood rocking chair, it’s at least 90 years old, maybe older. Several spindles are broken and one of the rockers has been poorly repaired. I promised your Mom that I would repair it many years ago. Now, I need you to repair it and I’ll try to cane a bottom for it. Maybe we can get a picture of Caroline Jane sitting in her Great Grandmother’s rocker.”

Well, what do you say to a request like that? A simple yes sir was the reply and I put the sad little rocker in the trunk to take to Lexington. This was early February and the little rocker sat in my shop while I busily built stretcher bars and frames for Lynne’s art. Spring 2020 was going to be Trotter Arts busiest ever so we were very engaged, building up our inventory. Soon, our March, April and May shows cancelled and the workshop ground to a halt. The sad little rocker was still there waiting for it’s time.

Furniture restoration is really not in my wheelhouse, even so, I started stripping the many paint layers from the chair. After about 5 layers of paint, I got down to the wood with a stain of some sort. I repaired the broken rocker, replaced spindles and finally was able to dry fit it all back together. It’s not perfect and has a slight wobble to the rocking motion. This little rocker was definitely hand made, originally pegged and mortised together but repaired through the years with nails and screws. I could not help but to wonder how old it really was and how many children used it. Based on the construction, I suspect it could have come from my Grandmother’s family homeplace in Marvin, Ala which would put it well over 100 years old.

During the next step, the little rocker met modern day epoxy and some straps to hold her together, somewhat squarely. After the epoxy cured and another round of sanding, she was ready to paint. We chose a hunter green color, because two of the stripped paint layers were dark green and we wanted to respect her history.

The sad little rocker looks pretty good now! She has a little wobble when she rocks and she needs a new seat but with a little more time I think she is going to be special, maybe an heirloom for the next generation. So, I’m happy that I invested some time in this little rocking chair. We are shipping it back to my Dad so that he can invest his time in her and fulfill the promise he made to Mom. This is so typical for my Dad, keeping his word!. I look forward to the time when we can photograph our granddaughter Caroline Jane sitting in Mimi’s restored rocker!