So with my workshop shut down as a result of the pandemic, I’ve had some time on my hands. Since I have a garage full of “treasure”, (some may call it hoarding, I call it a collection of potential) I decided to play around with some new techniques.
This little table was given to me by a friend who didn’t want it anymore. I loved the dropleaf design and it was the perfect little size for my experiment. 
I stripped the top down by sanding away the existing design and stain. I was pleased to see the beautiful and bold wood grain. This would work well in my experiment. I also cut off some additional detail on the legs and filled in the button screw covers so that the look was more streamlined.
I wanted to create a scene that would look complete regardless of the position of the leaves. I settled on a seascape and set to work making stencils. I laid them out it a visually pleasing design and applied navy blue stain to the lower portion of my design. From there I applied a grey-white stain to create a sky and blended the colors together to form the skyline. The wood grain created movement in the colors that you can’t achieve with paint.
The table base was painted in a light khaki-gray to blend with the colors but not compete with the design.
I love the way the technique worked, and now my mind is spinning with the possibilities!
