"It's A Small World"

I bought this coffee table for $10 through kijiji Halifax. The reason the photo is so fuzzy is because, again, I was in a hurry to get started and forgot to take a better one. This photo was actually copied from the original ad.

If you have never heard of kijiji you might want to check it out, it's a site where people can buy, sell and trade locally for FREE!

The table has a diameter of 39".  Just the perfect size to accomplish my fiendish plan.  I am going to "TAKE OVER THE WORLD".Ha ha ha ha..........................

 In the photo below I have sanded the pine table top down to remove all of the varnish, and taped off and primed my painting area.

Please ignore the kitty dish!

I now spend some time getting acquainted with an old atlas, some tape, scissors (I must have used them for the tape), an eraser, a pencil & sharpener.

Now that all of the continents have been drawn in, I can add the first layer of blue paint in and around the land masses.  Notice that even the rivers and lakes can be seen.

Now I will add another shade of blue with highlights and low-lights to create depth.
Now were getting somewhere.

Now I begin painting in the continents, applying my paint very thickly.  I intended to do this, it will help to create a 3-D effect.

I now begin to highlight all of the continents.

Next I take a close look at the ocean fault lines in the atlas, and try to recreate them on my table to my satisfaction.

I was curious to see if by adding a bit of varathane to them it would create more depth. My intention was to just put on a small drop, but I ended up with a thick line instead. I knew it would dry clear so I wasn't too worried, but I was definitely too impatient to wait 20 minutes for it to dry.

What happened next changed everything!
I went to get my hairdryer to speed up the drying time,...what actually happened with the combination of wind and heat created ripples and ridges.
***WOW, what a happy accident***
I also painted in the frame and edge of table in black.

NOTE: Don't use too much heat or get too close to your work or it will actually bubble and turn white.

Painted the legs black, 2 coats.

To seal this table I applied 6 coats of oil based polyurethane (gloss) to the top and 2 coats to the legs..

I have absolutely no problem putting a hot plate or a cup of coffee directly on the table without using a coaster.

Another good point of polyurethane is that when you apply enough coats it looks like a sheet of glass.

Here it is all finished.

"It's A Small World"

NOTE: When you use polyurethane, it will say in the fine print that you can re-coat every 6 to 8 hours I believe.
DON'T LISTEN, coat it only once every 12 hours and make the coats thin. If you want 24 coats, it's going to take 24 days and then you have to let it sit and cure (about 1 week) a while before you can use it.

Thanks for reading, and happy crafting.

Until we meet again.