Creative Failure

I used to like creating mosaic's. I never completed a mosaic that was particularly spectacular, but I just really enjoyed the process of creating a piece of art out of broken or nipped pieces of ceramic or glass tile. I have done a few small mosaic's, but I decided to do something on a larger scale. I obtained a used wooden table for a few bucks and decided I was going to do a table-top mosaic. I struggled with it on and off for over a year. I would glue down a bunch of broken glass and then I would scrape the pieces up a few days later. I was so unsatisfied with my project that I finally just pried up every last piece of glass I had glued down in the past year and finally threw in the towel. It was one project that just wasn't going anywhere.

I decide I needed a break from mosaic's, but I still wanted to do something with the table. By now, the top was so gouged from my repeated scrapings that it was an eyesore. I could have sanded it down, but by this time I just wanted the table done so that I would not have to think about it anymore. I decided that I would slap some paint on it and maybe do a faux finish. I don't usually care for faux paint jobs, but I had done enough damage to the table that I figured a nice weathered paint finish would cover all the flaws very well.

Boy, was I wrong. I did the weathered panting technique according to the paint manufactures instructions. I chose two contrasting colors to create the weathered/crackle look. I painted my table and two stools the base color and it seemed like everything was finally coming together nicely.

I decided that I would add the weathering glaze and the top coat of paint to one of my stools first to see how it would come out. I'm glad that I did. It looked so bad that all I could do was laugh. It was so ugly it was comical. As I was painting I kept telling myself that it might look better once the paint is dry. It didn't. It stayed butt ugly even after the paint had dried. I stopped painting and decided to leave the table painted in the base coat I had already put on. It is a pretty bland color and for some reason I just couldn't leave the table be. It had been such a continuing failure for me that I just could not let it go.

I thought I would give decoupage a try. I don't think I have decoupaged anything since about the first grade or something, but I have seen people do interesting things with furniture with the decoupage technique. I had a stack of magazines that I went through and started clipping out interesting images, articles, poems, etc... When I had a stack of clippings, I started to lay them out on the table, but I did not like how it was coming together. No matter what kind of arranging I did, it just never looked right. At this point I really should have just walked away, but I couldn't. I had decided I was going to use this table as my home computer/craft desk and I was determined to make it look decent enough that I wasn't disgusted every time I took a seat at my desk.

I was looking at decoupage projects on the Internet, trying to find some inspiration, when I noticed that in some decoupage instructions people use fabric. This had never occurred to me before and I liked the idea of using fabric much more than magazine clippings. I went to a fabric store and rooted around a bargain bin for awhile until I found an inexpensive bolt of fabric that appealed to me. I got it home and contemplated how I wanted to lay it out on the table. Some people cut and arrange shapes, but I wanted to keep the top simple and clean. I decided to simply lay the fabric the length of my table top and cut it to size. I then followed instructions for any decoupage project. I used inexpensive, clear-drying craft glue, which I watered down, and brushed it completely over the fabric on my table. I let the glue dry and re-applied as needed. I did get a few air bubbles, but using an x-acto knife and slicing the bubble before re-applying another layer of watered-down glue works pretty well for flattening out the worst of them. Once I had the the fabric glued on and relatively air bubble free, I lacquered the table top.

When all was finally said and done, I was fairly pleased with the results. This was another learning experience for me and I was able to produce a very pretty table that I sit and work at every single day. The colors in the fabric I chose are very beautiful and suits my work environment well.

I still have a lot of glass tile still sitting in my closet and one of these days, I am going to pick up tile work again. I love mosaic's and one day I might actually be able to create something beautiful, but that is going to have to wait until inspiration hits - and it's going to be on a much smaller scale.