I spent a lot of time online looking at images of mid-century modern chairs looking for inspiration for the base.  I kept coming back to this recliner by Vladimir Kagan.  I liked its overall fluid lines, and the legs and canted back stretcher seemed perfectly suited for what I want to do.   

I sat down and made a rough sketch the side section and then modeled it full size in OnShape.   After a couple revisions to adjust the shape and proportions, I made a final paper template to attach to some lauan.

 

I recently scored a nice stack of white oak on FB Marketplace for $100, some of which I planned to use for this project.   I felt confident enough in the design to go straight to finish material and bypass the prototyping.  If I screw-up, I haven't lost much.  I picked a couple of pieces, surfaced them, and laid out the placement of the side pieces.  The extended rear leg had a grain pattern that somewhat followed the curve of the leg.

Rough cut out on the bandsaw.

Trimmed to final shape on the router table, avoiding the tips of the legs and the joint edges.

I created a couple sleds to cut the joint edges on the table saw.   The sled for the front leg would ride against the fence.

The sled for the rear leg would ride against the miter gauge.

The stop block on the miter gauge ensured a consistent cut for both rear legs.  I cut front legs on the left side of the blade and the rear legs on the right.  Any discrepancy in the blade angle would cancel out when the pieces are joined.

I created a caul to provide a clamping edge that was parallel to the joint.  The caul was lined with a strip of sandpaper to keep it from slipping.   This worked, but in hindsight, I should have created a little hook at the end of the caul to index the end of the leg.  Or, left some excess on the leg for a built-in clamping stub.

I made some domino stock out of some of the scrap white oak.

I planned to use the maximum depth of cut on the Domino (28mm) for the floating tenons, and made some non-standard-length tenons to match.

Dry fit before glue-up.

Finally, glue-up.

The next day I sanded down the excess left around the joints to blend the curves.

All of the remaining shaping will wait until after the mortises are made for the stretchers.

With a temporary stretcher clamped between the leg assemblies, I could set the chair shell in place to get a sense of how it will look.  I like this much better than the initial prototype.    It does look a little chunky for the size of the chair (pendulum swings in the other direction), but I think some of that will go away once all of the edges have been rounded. 

Next, I need to play around with how the side assemblies will be oriented relative to each other - separation, splay, etc.  Goody, more compound angles.   😆