A great occasion for a miniature occasional table

Way back in 2018, I tried my hand at wood turning. I did not have a lathe back then but used an old machine drill to work on some beech roundwood we had lying around in our shed. One piece came out like this. A balustre shaped table leg meant for an occasional table.

But before I could make the rest of the table I moved on to another mini project and a lot of other things followed in suit. In short I forgot all about this table leg. Not every line on it is straight and I can probably do better (and I will, there is a lot more that I want to make on that lathe.) but I simply can't discard it. So a table it will become.

I drew a little scroll shaped leg on a pièce of beechwood. Then glued two more pieces onto it and cut out three legs with my fretsaw.Since glueing a straight surface on a round one will not be very succesful, I put each of the scroll feet in my vice and with a round needlefile I rounded the surface in order for them to fit the turned leg better when glued onto each other.

I also drew two different shapes of table tops on a piece of softwood and cut that out. I decided on using the round top. Then I used a file to smoothe the top edges of the table top and the scroll legs.  Now the 3 scroll legs, the balustre leg and the table top are all glued together and we have a table!

It is a small table which is used as a candle stand or something like that. In auction catalogue this size of occasional table is also called a wine table. Probably because it is large enough for a glass of wine (or port) and a good, albeit medium sized book. :-)

After aplying two coats of gesso and sanding it, it was time for some decoration. After the Brown wooden pieces it is time for a splash of colour. The basecoat is a mixture of cadmium yellow which is mixed with titanium white into a soft, creamy yellow. When it had dried I used alizarine crimson for adding details. 

After painting the table I still had a lot of paint on my palet. A shame to let it go to waste, now would it not? Next I took the candlestand I had put together earlier. It is a 'The House of Miniatures' kit that Mrs. M. had kindly given me. I turned the colours around and added pale yellow decorations on a crimson base. 

I am not sure yet if the occasional table and the candle stand  will end up downstairs or upstairs . For now the Steward may have them. speaking of the steward, his office is progressing but very slowly. Making around 800 tiles for the 2 floors is taking a lot more time than I thought. Here is a little 'sneak peek' though. The arches will be filled in with raised windowseats and behind that wil come the outer wall with the windows inserted into it.

Well thats it for now. I hope that you have enjoyed this little post and till next time! 

Huibrecht 

A miniature gueridon tutorial: 2. Adding a plinth and a crown

Hello dear friends.
Thank you for all your kind words on the last post. It has been almost a month now. Because of a lot of thinks in RL I have not spent half as much time on miniatures as I expected to be able to. The two rooms I am building are progressing but progress is really so terribly slow! A bit frustrating. But oh well. what can't be done today, may be done tomorrow.

In between I picked up another project that was lingering in a box for quite some time. Back in august 2019 I showed you the first part of the transformation of two spelter cast angels who used to adorn a wall clock into a pair of gueridons.

Remember these little rascals?

Now we are already halfway into 2020 and so it is high time to finish this project. It has taken so long (in part) because I could not decide how to make the base. Would I cut up a picture frame with the right profile? I scoured the second hand shops but never found a frame in the right shape or size. I could make one myself using wood and or clay. But wich of the two?

 Both as it turned out. I had made a few sketches to see how I want the crown and base to look.

For the base and the crown I cut out several circles and octogons in different sizes.  I've built up the basic form of the base and crown in different combinations until I was happy with the result of both and glued the different discs of wood together.

                           

Then I used airdrying clay to fill up the gaps and now the final shape finally emerges. with some shaping and moulding I added some decorations into the clay. When all had dried I gave the base and crown two thin layers of paint. White for the bases and gold for the crowns.

You can all probably guess where it goes from here. The crowns will be gilded (eventually, have not learned that yet.) but for now gold paint will do. And the bases will be marbled in a blueish grey marble imitation.

Now it was time to bring the different pieces together. I drilled holes in the base, large enough to be able to screw in the figure. Then I glued on the crown. And made sure that the top of the crown was level.

Et voila, a gueridon with a dancing putto! On the picture below you can see that they have practically the same height as my pair of gueridons made by John Hodgson. It worked well. I am pleased with the result and will make the second one soon.

Well, that is it for now. I hope that you have enjoyed this little post and till next time!

Huibrecht