Miniature Rustic Twig Furniture by George C. Clark: March 2011

I make my furniture from twigs and Lake Michigan driftwood, shells, stones, bark, seed pods and other natural materials. The challenge is to fabricate objects that require a certain form and symmetry, like chairs, for example, out of materials that are by nature randomly and organically shaped. I seek out the gnarliest twigs and pieces of driftwood, the curved, forked or twisted ones, because they make the most interesting furniture. No two of my chairs are ever alike in construction, although they are all identical in function. They embody the spirit of rustic design by using found or natural materials instead of manufactured ones, and at the same time evoke the many folk tales and legends of the little people of the forest. I have a lot of fun making them.

The little tables' tops are 5 inches above the surface they are standing on, and the chairs are scaled in proportion to that size.

You can email me at gcc@georgecclark.com

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Miniature Rustic Critters

Left side of miniature rustic devil dog by George C. Clark

Right side of miniature rustic devil dog by George C. Clark

Miniature rustic bobble wiener dog house by George C. Clark

I don't make a lot of critters because making one depends on my finding a piece of driftwood shaped like an animal face. The bobble wiener dog is a single piece of driftwood seven inches long from the bone in its mouth (which I whittled a bit and painted) to its tail (which I also whittled). I only added the pine cone petal ears, round-headed steel tacks for the eyes, and a brass upholstery tack for the nose. The dog is suspended by black upholstery thread from the peak of the roof so it bobbles when you touch it or move the doghouse. The roof is covered in birchbark shingles.

A Table and More Chairs

Miniature driftwood high-backed chair and agate-topped table by George C. Clark

Miniature twig high-backed armchair by George C. Clark

Miniature driftwood side chair by George C. Clark

High-backed driftwood chair for Abe Martin by George C. Clark

Abe Martin cartoons from 1911 by Kin Hubbard

I named that last chair after the newspaper comics character created a hundred years ago by Kin Hubbard of Indianapolis. I could just picture old Abe on a chair like that down in Brown County.