Last April, as I was finishing up all my Eras-inspired chairs, Taylor Swift released a new album. My photoshoot had just been completed because my photographer, Abby, was 7 months pregnant…and we need to get it done! Click here to see her amazing pics of that day!

Did you see that my chairs are on the cover of the latest What Women Create Magazine??? What an honor!  You can get a copy at Barnes & Noble or online here.

 

As I was getting ready to spend the entire summer in Upstate New York, I wasn’t sure if I could pull off designing another chair…at least not before summer.  So when I got home earlier this month, I put my design plans into action to complete this final chair, the 11th.

The album is titled The Tortured Poet’s Department. It’s an album filled with many sad songs about heartbreak, and a few that are not only hopeful, but downright happy. I knew she would sing some of these songs at the concert that my daughters and I would attend in July, so I wanted to be prepared to sing along. I definitely have my favorites…but they are mostly the sad songs, showing the raw emotions of a tortured poet. Based on that and her 1st video from the album, I began concocting my design.  It would be a Victorian vibe.

I selected the chair above which is a classic Victorian style in bad need of a makeover!

I wanted to do something a little different for the chair’s finish instead of paint. So, I decided to decoupaged it with pages from a poetry book. As I thought about other female poets who were tortured too, I landed on Emily Dickinson. I found a book of her poems at Half Price Books and knew it would be perfect.

I’ve never decoupaged a chair before, so it was truly an experiment. I got my Mod Podge and tore the edges of the pages. I also read quite a few of her poems as I was placing them on the chair!

Next, I knew the chair needed an image of a black dog (after one of the songs, “The Black Dog”). Since this is my interpretation of Taylor’s work on a chair, I knew Maui would play the black dog in silhouette form…a classic look from the Victorian era.

I knew I couldn’t draw Maui’s profile, so I took his picture and uploaded it to see if I could change it into a black and white profile image. I’ve got a short video showing how I made this image into a black and white profile, click here to watch.

Next, I had to figure out the fabric for the front of the chair. I wanted it to look like a Victorian dress, but black like someone would wear in mourning. I found one on Amazon!

I never know how these things are going to turn out when I start, but I just forge ahead knowing I can change my mind if I need to. I started stapling along the top of the chair. Then I used the skirt part on the seat.

I added the black ruffle cut from the dress to outline the silhouette  on the backside.

Overall, it came together perfectly with my own personal touch to what this album would look like on a chair. It’s the final one in this series.

   

I started on this journey of creating these chairs a year ago, doing one per month until we attended the concert back in July.  It was a project that truly stretched me creatively, but one that I also enjoyed.

Did you hear that I’m hosting a party at my home in the Austin, Texas area on October 19 to celebrate these chairs? It includes a home tour, studio tour, live music and lots of fun people! Call your girlfriends and make a trip out of it! Round Top flea market is going on during that time and we are about an hour away from Magnolia in Waco.  Click here to get your tickets on October 19 from 4-6 pm. (Limited tickets are available.) I hope to meet you in person!

It’s not enough to just create and celebrate, though. I also wanted these chairs to make a difference somehow. So, I decided to sell them on October 19 in an online auction and donate the money to charity.  Did you know that Taylor donates money to food shelters in the cities where her concerts are held?  I decided to take a cue from her and donate the proceeds of this auction to a food shelter located behind where I live. Every Thursday morning I see a long line of cars waiting to get food at this place. This is my chance to help out, and you can too!  If you want to get on the waitlist to get details for this auction,  go to this page, click on the Chair-a’s Auction waitlist button. Together we can make a difference in people’s lives.