Moroccan Table #1

As promised, here's a peek into one finished project: The Morocco inspired nesting table. I still have two more to complete, but those are keeping houseplants away from nosey dog snouts for now.

I started with a vague idea, and three cheapy nesting tables via Craigslist ($10 baby!), A little dirty, mostly scuffed, and under a charmingly thick layer of oily cleaners & veneer. After an inordinate about of time sifting through old art class handouts and the mounting collection of Moroccan inspired images I've collected, I finally came up with a design that I could reproduce.

A few hours at the light table, several sheets of paper, and a few choice words for the endless stream of broken pencil tips produced this:

Then came time to sand down the table (by hand, mind you. No fancy-pants tools for this girl). It would have been shorter on time, and easier on my knuckles if I had any sort of electric sander handy...probably why I'm still procrastinating with the other two tables.


So, a good thorough sanding leads to an equally thorough wiping down with a tack cloth, then transferring the design from paper to the wood itself. I taped the original design to a sheet of contact paper, and sliced away.  I'm sure there's an easier way to do this. Like ordering a stencil (which, in hind sight, would have also been much easier on my hands, but, hey, I learn the hard way). I, being the stubborn lady I am, decided to use an exacto knife to cut out the pattern. Pre-made stencils, people...they are your friend.

Once my home-made stencil was complete, I laid it out over the nekkid wood, and went to town with gold paint pen. After the base design was down, I decided a border would be nice, so the edges of the table were attacked with masking tape. I have no idea what size, it just seemed to work.

Then comes the really fun (messy) part-painting! While at the local Home Depot , I wandered off and  fell in love with a Behr color chip by the name of "Berry Charm." Of course, I had no idea what it would be used for, so I bought a color sample to add to my growing collection of "stuff I love but have no current use for."
Fast forward to the table. It was perfect. The gold, the rich violet. Very luxurious, very Morocco. 

 

Once that Berry Charm worked it's magic, I simply couldn't help myself. The mini paint roller took control, and attacked the rest of the table. Legs, sides, it was all fair game. The hardest part of the painting session was keeping the dog fluff to a minimum  between coats. I'd venture a guess and say I put two on there, plus loads of touch-ups where clumsy fingers , noses, and a giant husky-butt got too close to wet paint. In the meantime, some turquoise was put down on the top of my table. I would love to tell you the name color and brand of this gorgeous paint, but the bottle is so old and abused, I could barely read "Acrylic" on the front. It's a craft paint of some sort, if that helps?

I decided that a defined border was called for, so out comes the masking tape again, strips put down on either side of where I wanted the border to be. It took about three passes with my gold paint pen this time around, mostly because I kept finding little gaps and bumps that needed fixing. The final step was to haul this baby outside and descend upon it with a bottle of clear indoor/outdoor spray paint (thank you, Krylon, for making that part a breeze).

It took about three days of working off & on to finish this sucker. Some things I will probably change when I go to work on the next two tables:

• Use an electric sander: I wasted a lot of time, energy, and skin trying to sand this down by hand. Though we don't have one right now, I can wait until we do. Getting more power tools was something we both wanted to do, anyway.

• Stencils: While I kind of dig the irregularities in the pattern, it will be a huge sanity saver to just find, or order a custom stencil to get the pattern down.If I can score a reusable stencil, all the better.

• Cleaner work place: I love my dogs, I really really do. I just don't love how much they contribute to the painting projects (and dinner) with all that fur floating around our house. If I could find a dog-free zone to finish this up, I would. While the random strands of paint-locked hair are homey, it's not quite what I was hoping for. Having to chase down a beast before she sits because she got her hind-end too close to wet paint, really puts a cramp in the flow of things too.

Originally intended for the back porch, the table is making an appearance as my nightstand for awhile. At least until I can drag my butt outside long enough to clean up the porch area.
So, whaddya think? Can I keep my "crafty" member card for awhile?

"VDAY"

I have some unresolved issues with over commercialized holidays, especially one that makes a big deal about buying crap to "prove" your love to someone. The idea of showing affection is wonderful, and should be year round-not restricted to a predetermined day with a specified set of allowable gifts.
I'm a sucker for romantic gestures, but I just can't bring myself to go along with the traditional Valentine-craze.

Fortunately, R feels the same way.  So we spent the night doing our own romantic thing:

Nothing says love like a massive piece of grilled meat, some veggies, and cuddling on the couch to watch an awesomely cheesy 90's TV series.

Projects..ish

True to form, I have been one lazy monkey.

I did manage to finish two large paintings, in gouache no less. This is impressive, in that I generally loathe working with any medium other than pencil or oil paints. The bulk of the credit goes to a good friend, K, for the inspiration. Every time we speak, I walk away with warm fuzzies, and a certain artistic confidence that generally eludes me. If I could put her in my pocket and carry her around with me, I really would. A pocket muse!

Anyhow, I set out to do a series of paintings for the yoga-corner in my living room. A lot of planning went into it-hours of figure research, sketches etc..but when it came down to actually getting the figures on canvas everything crumbled. Until I spoke with K, that is. I still haven't managed to work out the yoga paintings, yet, but many great sketch-paintings came from it.

During one of many conversations about my frustrations with the idea, she reminded me to stay relaxed, and just let the art flow. Which, I finally did to wonderful results. A little wine, a little netflix documentary goodness. Lots of small, light, loose gouache paintings akin to sketches. I'm hoping to do several more in a similar theme and get them in one frame for a finished piece.

Just wish I had been smart enough to take a photo of the end result.
Of the two larger paintings I finished, the largest one I mailed off to K as soon as it was dry (okay, so I waited for a nominally warm day to mail if off).  Maybe one day I'll remember to ask her for a photo of it.
The other is hiding in the depths of my office closet waiting for a frame with proper hanging hardware, and far away from prying dog snouts. Eventually, hopefully, I'll manage to get at least one photo of that on here; if for no other reason than to prove that I actually did something last month other than make cookies and futz with the dormant garden.

Until then-here's a small example of what I whipped out while listening to Carl Sagan and learning about our cosmos.