SK On Elderberry: What Makes A Professional, Professional?

Professional? SK Sartell

With a history as sketchy as mine, the art and design lessons learned over forty five years must surely be of some use as I get older. You would think...

As I begin a creative project I really try to "see" what I am trying to achieve. This imagining can be a far cry from reality as most of you know. But sometimes we get it spot on and sometimes we're not even close.

Take for example this little well loved table given to me by my secret garage shopper. She seems to trust me. Heavens.

What truly makes a Professional a Professional is their ability to FIX their own screw-ups.

I don't care what the profession. The best professionals fix their own messes. It's always the same. True professionals will turn out a good product every time. Coincidence? NO. They are just working in the background making sure a project comes true. No matter the time or cost. The "best of" final product is the goal.
<>Sooooooooo......The little table had been sitting waiting for some creativeness. As the sun came out, I had a simple inspiration. I would like to refinish this old table for a donation to a local youth group. Due Friday only three days away. No stress.
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I started doing my "due diligence" By examining my table and starting the prep work. Involving many hours of sanding and priming and sanding and filling and sanding and priming. You get the idea.

Days go by in the aforementioned way. This morning I was excited to be on to painting my first coat of paint, when I noticed a corner tile had come a little loose.

I took my five-in-one tool and nudged it to see if I could just glue it back down. NOPE... It shattered. So I decided no problem, I will just fill and sand. And sand. And sand.

Not happening. So I pulled this provoking and nasty little tile up, discovering wet and moldy glue under it. Gag. You know the saying, kissing a toad doesn't make him not a toad? I created a real toad. I have a tendency to be slapped with this lesson daily. If I have to mess around with it and fix it and mess around some more and think "Oh. It will be OK." I need to take a proverbial step back. Stop and know this is not going well, so STOP. No matter how much I wanted it to be as I envisioned, it was not going to happen.

Now what? I made the agonizing decision "all" the tile must come up. What a nightmare. What a great experience. Patience SK, patience. Now I know what enduring to the end means. This little gem had some hidden sins.
Getting the old and moldy glue up was a process. But finally was able to throw out the mistakes and start new. Out of sight, out of mind. Right?

I had a great little oak table with a half inch depth indent on the entire top which must be filed. New tile? I seriously thought about it, but it's not the "old" look I was imagining. So I am going to have a piece of clear plywood cut, sanded and edges cleaned and glued into place. Cool. A whole new surface for me to mess with...Oh Joy. My hubby just smiles and walks away.

The new plywood is now glued and tacked into place, fitting nicely.
Now the new process starts to take place. I used a bonding primer to create a great paint surface. I know this table will get a lot of use, so I wanted to make sure it could hold up under the daily grind.

Hmmmmm. I painted it vermilion over a crackle medium. I used leftover project paint for this table so my cost was minimal.

The off white paint began to crackle. When this coat was dry I added a large, light colored chess board to the center of the table. Then added several old fashioned graphics. As this coat was drying, I waxed the rusted iron legs with a clear wax. I will buff this until I get a good shine. I will then add a second layer of wax and buff again.

I sanded back corners and "used" edges of the table top for an old world look. Add another couple of coats of buffed wax. Just need a set of chess men to finish her off. Maybe this might claim a family again. Keep those phones off the chess table please. Have a game, talk, laugh and forget the phones for a while.

Using hot glue I added texture as vines and leaves to the legs and trestle bar.. This I painted with Iron paint by Modern Masters reactive iron paint. It was then misted using a rusting liquid. When dry I waxed the legs with a clear buffing wax.