Helen Kirstner holds out her hands, palms up, and laughs. “A policeman once told me if I were ever arrested, they’d have to footprint me. My fingerprints are almost worn away.”
Kirstner is a professional caner, one of a dwindling number of such artisans. She restores the seats, sometimes backs and arms of chairs and settees. She also canes small tables, bar stools, baskets, hampers, baby buggies and children’s furniture. Her skills are in demand by antique collectors and dealers who admire the authenticity and beauty of her work. In the fall, she teaches classes in this nearly forgotten craft at Naper Settlement. She teaches private students in her Naperville home year-round.
In addition to caning, which is done with the hard outer bark of rattan palm in various widths, Kirstner does Shaker tape weaving, a sturdy, attractive choice for ladderback chair seats and casual furniture.
She also does rushing–not a state of hurrying, although some jobs do seem to turn critical timewise. Rushing involves some of the same techniques as caning, but it’s mostly done with commercial fiber rush, a man-made paper product. Natural rush are the leaves of the giant cattail, cut in August at their longest and driest, just before they turn brown. They’re spread in a dark garage or basement for weeks to dry, then soaked in hot water for hours and passed through a hand wringer to eliminate air bubbles.
“Only about 50 percent of your rush harvest is usable,” Kirstner said. “I don’t work with it anymore. It gets very time consuming and expensive, and people won’t pay the price.”
Then there’s splint weaving. “Former President Carter is into that,” she said. “Splints are hand cut from hickory, ash or oak logs with a chisel and mallet. It’s used shiny side up. Sometimes flat reed is used. Splint weaving offers a versatility of patterns.”
With any of the materials, most of which she orders from the West Coast, there is a specific design to go with every style and period of furniture. Kirstner works on some by rote; others require detailed, mathematical planning on paper. Most clients, particularly antique owners, want an exact reproduction of the original.
Sometimes they want intricate repair work instead of an entire new seat. “That’s more difficult than starting from scratch.” Kirstner said.
“Scratch” is an appropriate word. The materials of the trade are tough or coarse, sometimes hairy, and hard on the hands. In an old chair, the cane is often dried out and brittle, making it difficult to join with new strips to fill in a hole. Repeated soaking of the area is required to make it pliable enough to complete the patched weave.
Kirstner, 78, who grew up in Park Ridge, calls herself “a flatlander who has never lived more than 30 miles from her Chicago birthplace.” She has, however, traveled extensively here and abroad. Whenever possible, she visited museums and galleries to look at examples of her favorite craft.
Prior to moving to Naperville, she and her husband, Gerald, made their home in Elmhurst for 40 years. Her son and one daughter now live on the West Coast, but two of her daughters, Karen Zorn and Deb Paulsen, and one of her three grandchildren, Peter Paulsen, live in Naperville. After Gerald’s death 10 years ago, her daughters persuaded their mother to move to Naperville.
Jean Van Deneeden was a neighbor of the Kirstners in Elmhurst. “I was always impressed with Helen’s capabilities,” she said. “She was known as `Mrs. Fixit.’ Both she and her husband had multifaceted talents. She was always creative, but she was active in the community, too, and a volunteer at the Y. She was also a great gardener, taught me to hybridize iris. We also went hunting for wildflowers together. It’s just her makeup to do everything well. Her caning reflects that–and the way she respects quality materials and workmanship.
“She caned six dining room chairs for me at least 12 years ago. They still look as lovely as the day she finished them. Recently she did a Victorian rocker for me, a style called blind caning. I know it’s a difficult process because the holes for the canes don’t go all the way through to the back side.”
Kirstner credits an English scout leader with teaching her the basics of caning more than 70 years ago. After earning her merit badge, she continued to study and experiment on her own. She read books and learned terms not in everyday usage: A splat is the back of a chair; the spline is a strip of cane tamped into a channel around the seat rail to hold down the cut ends of the weaving; the bridge is the center line of the pattern; the gusset is the seat’s side area, which must be woven in first to make the design symmetrical.
After a number of other artistic pursuits, including textile weaving on a hand loom, Kirstner became “seriously involved in caning about 20 years ago because it was a challenge,” she said.
Her late husband once told her she’d picked a hard line of work. Sometimes the challenge goes beyond the medium itself. Kirstner has been known to repair the frame, carve out a trench for a spline or turn a new rung on a lathe before she could get on with weaving the seat. Owners may also resort to nails, staples and other damaging measures to keep furniture in use before they seek professional help.
Skip Shafer met Kirstner four years ago at an antique show at Arlington International Racecourse. Shafer, who owns Minuteman Clock Repair in Westmont, said, “Now I know what a big difference there is between sheet caning and hand caning. I carry Helen’s cards right along with mine. If I see cane chairs in a client’s home, I recommend her.”
Shafer and Kirstner began attending antique shows together, many of which are in Michigan. She helps him set up, then begins working on a chair. He specializes in clocks and music boxes, glassware and porcelain. Each attracts customers for the other.
“And I get to see what’s available at the shows before the crowd gets there,” Kirstner said.
Tom Wehrli calls her “a treasure. I hope I’m as active and sharp as she is when I’m her age.” Wehrli and his wife, Chris, run an antique restoration business in Naperville. “Helen does caning for us. We really appreciate her next-day service. I’ve even known her to bring a chair back the same day she picked it up.
“She’s a joy to work with. And so much fun. What a feisty lady.”
