I've been fussing around with round stands recently, and this had been a road of bitter failure until I decided to try explore one of my favorite Shaker pieces in the American Museum in Bath. It is gorgeous, but its concept has never seemed fully realized to me. So I played with it. Success.
I've been interested, as well, in the interplay of bare with painted wood surfaces. So, with much excitement, I set about making a painted top for the stand. I had never used Milk Paint on wood with a bold, open grain pattern, but I had a likely piece of Ash to work with. My first sign of trouble was that the grain was horrifyingly twisted, refusing to submit to any plane on the shelf. So I planed across directly across the grain which, surprisingly, worked. A couple hours of axe and spokeshave work and I had my round and beveled profile established.Then it was time for paint. And........it sucked. Grain that laid sleepily flat through three coats rose up startlingly on the fourth. And even once I had the finish just about perfect, I was left to appreciate the flawless execution of a bad idea. The rough texture of the grain steals the grace of the stand.
But this is still forward progress. The white top works for me; I only need to try it again in a mellower timber like maple or poplar. This is forward progress. I keep repeating that to myself.
