Canvas and Upholstery supply south luzon philippines

This blog is about products and services related to canvas and upholstery. It gives background and updated information about Upholstery services.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Upholstery shop provides a soft landing after layoff

Upholstery shop provides a soft landing after layoff
By Jen Aronoff
jaronoff@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Thursday, Sep. 24, 2009


After a restructuring claimed her job as a Bank of America vice president in February, Veronica Guns looked for another corporate position. But, she says, "there was nothing there." So she turned to a skill she learned after a previous layoff - upholstery.

Upholstery, fabrics and tarpaulins from there you create ideas and designs

Now, as the owner of a new Mooresville upholstery business, she's focused on cutting fabric and tying sofa springs - and teaching others to do the same.

Guns opened Upholstery by Veronica at the beginning of this month in an older home on North Main Street, not far from downtown, offering both upholstery and upholstery lessons. Its green-and-white sign and large banner in front have helped bring in interested customers every day, Guns said. So far she's enrolled a dozen students in four-week learn-to-upholster sessions, and more people have inquired.

Guns, 54, learned to upholster after 9-11, when she lost her job at Merrill Lynch in New Jersey as part of a mass layoff. After moving to Mooresville four years ago, she continued reviving sofas and chairs on the side, via word of mouth, as she worked for the bank.

Her experience convinced her that people would be interested in learning how to do the same. Still, after the layoff earlier this year, she was anxious about starting lessons.

Her husband, Bob, encouraged her to go for it. The couple determined the move would be financially possible, so they rented the three-bedroom house, moved Veronica's home workspace there late last month and put the signs up.

Since opening, her hunch has panned out: Many people have old furniture in their families and want to remake and reuse it. Guns also believes the recession has prompted more people to consider tackling such tasks themselves, to save money and realize the value in their existing possessions.

At Bank of America, Guns designed learning and leadership programs. So she's glad to use that experience in a new way. "I can teach people how to do this, and they are ecstatic," she said. "They come away with something of their own."

The rooms of the North Main Street home are now filled with tools, equipment, and clients' and students' chairs in various states of repair, as well as some of Guns' own projects, like a tattered but rare 1800s rosewood chair she found on the street.

"Each of them has a story," Guns said, pointing to a 1950s maple-trim sofa. "The woman who wants this grew up with it. That's why I love working with upholstery. There's stories for every chair."

Guns likes the sense of community that's come with her new endeavor, with visitors like upholstery student Nancy Omohundro of Mooresville, who stopped in Wednesday to work on her project. "I was interested in doing it because I have my own stuff reupholstered a lot," she said. Now, she said, she understands why the service can be expensive, because of the labor involved.

Guns still wonders if she'd like to return to a corporate job, or if she'll be able to get one again. She says she hasn't been away from that world long enough to know the answer. "This is a change in identity," she said. "It's being comfortable with, 'This is who I now am in the world.'"

But she doesn't believe the shop needs to be in business forever, necessarily, for it to be a success. She's just happy it's the right fit for the present. "This," she said, "is what I'm supposed to do right

Upholstery news source

****yeah start your business from your interests.******

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Canvas and upholstery Supply in South Luzon Philippines

STALLION ENTERPRISE
Commercial building A
Ciudad Montrina, brgy. Mamatid
Cabuyao Laguna, 4025
tel#831-1303
Mobile# 09263415118


The company was established to provide quality service and merchandise to clients down south of Luzon Philippines. We have seen the vision of being the main supplier and service provider of quality canvas and upholstery products. Our lines are, leatherette, Vinyl, floor mats, Cushions, tarpaulins, foams, cloths, canvas, Insulation,Blinds, Plastics, quality fabrics. The upholstery business is unique and in demand. Since the biblical times there is upholstery business. Usually the upholstery business is in lines of Upholstery cushions, fabrics, leatherette, Umbrella, vinyl, blinds and tarpaulins. Each of these products have evolved because of ideas,innovations and of course the demand.

Tarpaulin
heavy duty tarps is what I define tarpaulins that cannot be easily torn apart by cuts, abrasions, and burn. It can withstand strong winds, extreme
heat and acid rains.this tarpaulin is used commonly to cover warehouses, trucking, temporary open venue, tents, awnings and household open windows.

Currently, our tarpaulin suppliers here in the Philippines comes from china, Malaysia, Korea and within the country. By experienced, each tarpaulin
manufacturer has their level of product quality and my team have define their standards. So far, our local brand is the heavy duty tarp.


A Brief History Of Upholstery

( Originally Published 1961 )



It is widely thought that the craft of upholstery evolved from that of the tent-maker. And it does seem a likely development. Although tent-making is now quite a separate and a very prosperous trade, it is not so many years ago that many branches of that trade were carried out by the upholsterer.

The Upholsterers' Company was granted a charter in the year A.D. 1626 and is one of the oldest of the City of London Guilds and Liveries Companies. Its coat of arms being a shield with three tents. It was first emblazoned in A.D.1465.

One of the first developments from tent-making was `wall hangings' and draperies at windows and around beds. This is a branch of the trade that has almost died out. At least the wall hangings and bed draperies. The window drapery has since grown enormously, incorporating jobs like blind fixing, loose-cover making and bed cover making.

The first signs of comfort for chairs came with the making of cushions, but it was not until the reign of Queen Elizabeth I that the stuffing of furniture began to evolve. From then on the craft of upholstery increased and was in great demand, reaching its zenith probably in the late Victorian era and early Edwardian days.

By this time the standard of workmanship and versatility in England was really magnificent. It may well have surpassed the art of the French and Italian craftsmen who were considered supreme.

At this point it may be as well to point out and consider the numerous jobs that came under the proud title of `journeyman upholsterer'.

Basically of course he was a `stuffer', which really means an upholsterer as the layman knows it. In other words, he built up from a frame a piece of furniture padded with stuffing. He also undertook to measure, cut and fix curtains, blinds, draperies, loose covers and pelmets and swags. This included things like mantelpiece drapes and bed draperies which were very popular in those days. Indeed all types of draperies for furniture became most elaborate, as did the window dressings. Deep swags and tails for the window headings suited the tall windows of the wealthy client's house. These were usually heavily trimmed and sometimes surmounted by elaborate wooden cornices.

Floor coverings came under the upholsterer's jurisdiction. These included carpets, linoleum and art felts. And on a more macabre note, he lined coffins. Until the turn of the century hanging wallpapers was yet one more task in the furnishing trade that was carried out by this craftsman.

This may sound a pretty comprehensive list in these days of mass production and prefabrication and probably strikes one as being in the dim past. But I can still recall doing all these jobs, with the exception of wallpaper hanging, during my years of apprenticeship. My grandmother used to tell me that her father, who was an upholsterer, went to work in his top hat and spats which was a symbol of the prestige in which this craftsman was held.

The all-round upholsterer still exists today I'm glad to say, and is found usually in the good-class furniture retail stores of the provincial towns. The trade in London and the very big cities is split up into three sections, because of the volume of work carried out. The sections consist of Upholstery, Soft Furnishings and Carpet Planning. The first deals with furniture of the stuff -over type; the soft furnishing fitter deals with loose-cover and curtain making, and the carpet planner measures and plans all types of floor coverings.

The amount of work in all these branches is so great that craftsmen in these jobs are very hard to get. The all round man has to choose which branch to work at if he decides to make his living in one of the big cities. Conditions of working have improved tremendously, as they have for most trades. During the nineteen-thirties the `stuffer', or `rag tacker' as he is called, probably experienced the worst conditions. These were prevalent wherever there was great unemployment. `Sweat shops' sprang up all over the country to keep pace with the `Installment Plan Era' which had just started. A lot of furniture made in these workshops and factories was of the cheapest and poorest quality and the craftsman had to prostitute his skill in order to keep a job. Some idea of payment may be got if I tell you that $4'to $4.50 was an average rate for a small three-piece suite in leather cloth. This was for the finished job from frame to cover.

A lot of tedious jobs have been eliminated by the manufacture of spring units, ready shaped padding and rubberized hair that can be cut off a roll to a required length. There are also machines used in the trade, but for a first-class job it still remains a craft, where patience and skill of hand and eye play the most important part. Pride of craftsmanship is a great incentive to a beginner and the would-be apprentice should not think there aren't work shops that still carry on the traditions and skills. There certainly are! These skills are also taught in nearly every town or city that boasts a technical college, and apprentices can usually attend under the day-release schemes and also in the evenings.

In the following chapters we shall be dealing only with upholstery-the basic fundamental methods of turning out the quality piece of upholstered furniture. There is perhaps a sense of creation in upholstery that is quite different from woodwork or metalwork and as one reaches the final stages there is a great satisfaction. Particularly if the foundation is sound. The instructions in this book will, I hope, encourage the reader to achieve making that favourite piece of furniture.


Upholstery

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English words up and Holden, meaning to hold up. The term is applied to domestic furniture and also to applications in automobiles and boats. A person who works with upholstery is called an upholsterer; an apprentice upholsterer is sometimes called an outsider or trimmer.

Contents

Upholstery of domestic furniture

The materials which are important to the quality of an upholstered product, such as a bed, sofa, chair or ottoman, may be considered in four categories: the frame (usually wooden) on which the upholstery is to be constructed; the spring system; the cushioning or padding; and the final fabric or leather covering.

Frames

The life of a piece of upholstered furniture begins with its frame: although the underlying wooden framework cannot all be seen in the finished product, the type of wood used to create it will have a bearing on the quality of the final product. Where parts of the frame, such as chair legs, may be seen outside the upholstery these are termed "show-wood".

Some furniture employs softwoods, but may suffer from its difficulty in supporting the joinerygraining of hardwoods allows for pegs, screws and tacks to be set securely, reducing the likelihood of their becoming loose over time. Hardwoods used in upholstered furniture include oak, alder and other woods with tight graining. Hardwood laminates are often used for blocks and braces because laminates are actually stronger than solid wood in these applications. that is required for the best quality furniture. The tight

The wood for a piece of upholstered furniture must be assembled into a sturdy frame. Generally, the more rigid the frame the better, because a loose frame can crack or fail, and several craftsman processes can be used to create a good, strong frame. A variety of woods and laminates are used for joining, blocking and dowelling and sometimes several techniques are used.

Joints are the places where one piece of frame wood intersects to another part of the frame at an angle. Joints must be reinforced with blocks or dowels for extra support or the frame will be susceptible to loosening over time.

Blocking refers to the process of placing additional blocks of wood behind or diagonal to joints and corners for support in areas where the furniture craftsman believes there may be greater stress. Blocks provide lateral support and a larger area for screws and fasteners to set wood elements securely. This extra bracing at stress points contributes to the lasting integrity of the frame. An alternative to blocking is dowelling.

Dowelling refers to the process whereby one or two dowels are drilled, hammered and glued into the wood at stress-points to provide extra strength and support to the frame. Nails, screws, fasteners and glue may also support many parts of a frame.

Spring systems

Once the frame is constructed, a spring system is installed to support the seating area. Furniture manufacturers employ two main types of spring support systems: standard springs and eight-way hand tied springs. When the spring system is finished with a top layer of padding, it is commonly called the "seat deck".

Standard Springs provide good support at a lower price than the alternative. Most manufacturers offer either sinuous springs or drop-in-springs as their standard, depending on how they make their furniture. Both types affix to the frame to support the seat deck. Standard springs have a formal, very firm "sit" and only move in the up/down direction. In contrast, eight-way hand-tied springs can move in many more directions.

Sinuous springs are heavy-gauge steel springs that have been heat formed into continuous "S" shapes. They are cut into lengths and affixed to the frame. Drop-in Springs are mass-manufactured welded units that are more cheaply manufactured and considered to be of lower quality than sinuous springs.

Eight-way hand-tied springs have a wide range of movement providing a very even and individual "sit", because they move up and down and side to side. In the construction of these systems, the craftsman individually ties heavy gauge coils from front to back, side to side and diagonally (eight ways) to provide the highest level of quality, comfort and durability. This process costs more because it is time consuming and can only be done by hand.

Cushions, pillows, padding and fills

Once a piece of upholstered furniture has its frame and springs, the next components are the cushions and padding. Seat cushions sit on top of the spring system and seat deck. Back pillows, if present, rest against the back and arms of the piece.

Most cushions are made of a high-density foam core that is then wrapped with either soft polyester, feather and down, or a hypoallergenic down substitute. Dacron adds resilience so that pillows and seats keep their shape, while the wraps form a soft envelope. Cushions and pillows are usually sewn into cotton cases to ensure smooth upholstering.

Feather and down offers the maximum comfort and softness in cushions and pillows that most people desire and designers prefer. Feather and down back pillows and wrapped seat cushions can always be "fluffed-up" to maintain an attractive look. Feather and down fills and wraps require a little more maintenance than polyester and high density-foam but they have greater comfort, durability and resilience.

Buckwheat hulls are also used as filling for a variety of upholstered goods, including pillows and zafu. The hulls are durable and do not conduct or reflect heat as much as synthetic fills. They are sometimes marketed as an alternative natural fill to feathers for those with allergies.

Horse hair and hay have also been used in upholstery as cushioning/padding, however this practice is not as common today as using foam.

Fabrics and leathers

Textiles, a term used in the furniture industry, encompass both fabrics and leathers and the choice of textiles can account for up to 80% of furniture price.

Tightly woven fabrics and blends tend to wear longer than light or loose-weave natural fibers.

Leather is a durable and easy-care natural material that softens and improves with time. To create quality leather, top-grain hides are tanned, processed and dyed to give a certain color or look. Tanning refers to the process in which salts are used to cure the hide and to stabilize its shape. Dyeing refers to infusing the hide with different color dyes.

Aniline dyeing is a high quality process that imparts color but does not disguise the natural character of the hide. Some leathers are further treated with a pattern, texture, or polish.

Automobile upholstery

A typical leather-upholstered car seat.

An Automotive upholsterer is also known as a Trimmer, Coachtrimmer or Motor Trimmer. The trade shares many of the skills required in upholstery, in addition to being able to work with carpet.

The term Coachtrimmer derives from the days when car bodies were produced by manufactures and delivered to Coachbuilders to add a car body and interior trimmings. Trimmers would produce soft furnishings, carpets, soft tops and roof linings often to order to customer specifications. Later Trim shops were often an in-house part of the production line as the production process was broken down into smaller parts manageable by semi-skilled labor.

Many automotive trimmers now work either in automotive design or with aftermarket trim shops carrying out repairs, restorations or conversions for customers directly. A few high quality motor car manufacturers still employ trimmers, for example Aston Martin. The way the market is changing and manufacturers are cutting corners, it is a better idea to use a trim shop to use aftermarket materials. Adding your own touch can be a way to show originality while retaining the retail value of the vehicle. In some cases actually raising the retail value. Trim shops are now equipped with a higher quality, longer lasting and better color fastness, than many manufacturers.

Marine upholstery

Marine Upholstery differs in that one has to consider dampness, sunlight and hard usage.

A vinyl or material that is UV and cold cracking resistant is the choice.

Stainless steel hardware such as staples, screws must be used for a quality job that will last. Also wood when used for a job must be of marine quality.

Usually a high resiliency, high density (closed cell foam mainly used on smaller cushions to double as floatation devices) with a thin film of plastic over it is used to keep out water that might get by the seams and as well as aid in placing the vinyl back on the piece.

Also a Dacron thread must be used in any sewing work. Nylon zippers are the choice as well.

History

Upholder is an archaic term used for upholsterer in the past, although it appears to have a connotation of repairing furniture rather than creating new upholstered pieces from scratch (c.f. cobbler vs. cordwainer).[1]

In 18th-century London upholders frequently served as interior decorators responsible for all aspects of a room's decor.[2] These individuals were members of the London Upholders' Company, whose traditional role, prior to the 18th century, was to provide upholstery and textiles and the fittings for funerals. In the great London furniture-making partnerships of the 18th century, a cabinet-maker usually paired with an upholder: Vile and Cobb, Ince and Mayhew, Chippendale and Rannie or Haig.

Grand Rapids, Michigan is known as the furniture city and many of the best upholsterers can still be found there. These craftsmen continue to create or recreate many antique and modern pieces of furniture.

Upholstery-related tools

Upholstery materials

Upholstery skills

Other related articles

Followers