Revamped PEI Hall Table Entered Into Year Of The Craft Juried Exhibition!

The PEI hall table is the product of my final months at Rosemount Technical College. It is the veritable measure of what you have learned after 14 months of teaching and what you can give to the art. Our final projects were conceived, drafted and crafted without direction.

"Here's your wings! Now fly!"

I drafted the plans on the airplane to and from Germany. Jerome wanted me to see some Christmas Markets. Shortest trip ever; like two days. But that plane with a six hour window till Frankfurt gave me focus, and the stewardess took a shining to me and kept bringing me Sleeman's.

I threw in little challenges like mortise and tenons on 45 degrees for the leg and rails. The whole things is quite strong but a skin and bones frame. All dovetails were cut by hand and the legs shaped on a bandsaw and belt sander which was like sculpting wood.

The top is walnut veneer with PEI inlaid in the top in the same veneer. PEI is contrasted solely by the opposing direction of the grain. I always loved the shape of PEI and it suits the long narrow shape of the hall table.

I love this table. Mainly because I made it and thought of it. It is my first real piece of personally created furniture. Iexpressed my artistic ideas and worked my logic.

The paint job is a result of reading about Wendy Marayuma a wood worker artist who has incorporated a lot of colour into her wild creations. I figured if she can paint Mahoganny, I can paint Poplar. I wanted Island colours the Rust colour is obviously for the cliffs of PEI and the blue is ocean and sky. I put on a layer of Red and Then Blue. The I took sandpaper and steel wool and "distressed it", meaning to make it look like it is old, antiqued. So the Rust peaks out from under the Blue. Before distressing happened, the Blue looked like hell. It was practically Teal or some sick colour. Everyone who saw it thru up in their mouths a little. You can see in the below picture. The antiquing really made her look y though. y. The jurying is taking place for the next few days there are prizes and then if they like your piece it is put on exhibition at the Eptek Centre in Summerside for the summer.