Musical Chairs - Sibling Revelry - Details

Last one! Here are some detail shots of my submission to the Musical Chairs fundraiser.

The original chair was a VERY heavy oak child's chair from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. I tapered the legs and used a bandsaw to cut the back into the shape of a violin bridge, and then sanded the living daylights out of the whole thing. Some redwood stain made for a lovely deep red color (I have a very red violin myself, so this seemed fitting), and I added a double black line around the seat with a permanent marker, to mimic the design you'd normally see on the body of a violin. The metal bits on the side and the rings around some of the holes for the strings were salvaged from a broken clarinet, all held in place with the magic that is JB Weld.

I used violin tuning pegs to create what's known as a tusk tenon. If you're wondering if I cut new oak dowels that were longer than the originals so I could make this elegant-looking joint, I cannot tell a lie...totally faked it. The ends that the violin pegs go through are actually half-inch pieces of oak glued to the sides of the chair legs. Looks convincing though, right?