Several months ago, I promised my daughter, Allegra (Leggie, Legs, Lulu), I'd make a dining table for her apartment in Boulder... As she's coming home for Thanksgiving, my wife has insisted that I postpone additional work on the big press to complete Leggie's table...

Mark Sfirri and I were roommates while we were teaching at Anderson Ranch Arts Center 18 month or so ago, and I dropped into his workshop to see what he was teaching -- turned out to be 'eccentric spindle turning' in the lathe shop... COOL STUFF! Been meaning to give that a try, so I cut some whimsical table legs from a large cedar beam I've had sitting in the shop a few years and... Here are the turnings for the legs:

The bottom form of each leg has a 'fruit' motif -- an apple, pear, orange, and stawberry ice-cream cone -- well, supposed to be, anyway! I gessoed the parts and painted with acrylics and finished with a couple coats of polyurethane. Here's the assembled base:

I'd intended to make a 40" circular table top, but it didn't seem to coordinate with the fancy legs, so I made a somewhat bulging square top, gessoed it, and mounted it to my lathe for painting... Painted with acrylics again, and then used marker to make some dark circle accents, then heavily spray-lacquered the marker, causing it to dissolve and run like crazy -- I LOVE this effect!

detail of the table top showing 'runny' lacquer and marker

The entire table top still lathe-mounted and ready for urethane and attachment to the legs!

-- Mike

Labels: woodworking

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