I got the idea to build this table after a visit to the gallery that is known as Space 301. Space 301 is located in beautiful downtown Mobile, Alabama. The space recently underwent a renovation and is a great place to see art. We enjoyed a Mose T show there a couple years ago. I think there was something like 300 plus pieces of Mose T art for this show and I looked at everyone of them. Twice. This show was a sight to behold. I must not have been writing this blog at the time or else I would have already written about the awesome Mose T show. (thank you Ann Bedsole)
Anyway, not long ago we found ourselves in Mobile, just hanging out with my sister and her son. Sunday morning not to early, but before the grits went on the stove, we decided to go to the the Space 301 gallery. I had just picked up the paper at Roper St and read about a show which sounded very interesting, but kinda of cuckoo.
The name for this show was Imagillaboration: Collaborative Sculpture Project.
A guy named Michael Cottrell who is a professor at Florida Community College in Jacksonville, Florida got together 106 professional artist and broke them down into regional groups. Each artist from each group started a sculpture then passed it to another artist in their group. They each worked on every piece in their group. They worked on the sculptures for 18 months. Then Cottrell pick out pieces and put together this show. Brilliant idea, right? I liked it.
A lot of the pieces were assembled with found objects. Some old rusty stuff, some new parts, ceramics, metal, wood, rope and lots more was used. Most of the show was a pleasure to look at. It got me to thinking, again, about all the stuff I have in my 2000 sq ft work shop. I got rope and metal and wood, I got rusty stuff and all kinds of stuff to make a nice sculpture from. This always happens when I see a show like this, makes me want to assemble old stuff.
Well, I didn't really make a sculpture, but I did use old wood and old, rusty metal disc to make a cocktail table.
I picked out these 3 pieces of wood from the pile.
The flat long piece I ripped down the middle and made an apron from it. From the red piece and the longer post with the rough end I made four legs. I cleaned the post up by running then through my table saw and taking off a little bit from each side. Then I cut 4 legs to 18" each with a 15 degree angle on each end of each leg. The 15 degrees is a good angle for splayed legs. I also used a piece of plywood for a sub-top that will not be seen.
So then I had this, an upside down cocktail table undercarriage.
So then I took 3 rusty disc that appeared to be the tops from 50 gallon barrels, like these.
I cleaned them a little, sanded off some rust and made sure the edges were not sharp. Then I took old wood bolts and large washers and attached the disc to the undercarriage through holes I had drilled in the disc. I painted the apron red and distressed the paint. I just sanded the legs down, no stain, just clear coat. I sprayed the whole table with protective clear coating about three times and there you have it.
Posts
