Picket Fence Table

Thanks for your notes and good wishes about our restoration. We've been so tied up working on the old victorian, I've forgotten all the pleasurable experiences Jon and I had together building tables and handpainted them.

In the background you can see our 3 acre yard at our old place. We kept it just like a park, and I had 25 flower beds. It was a full time summer job working on the yard. But worth every bit of the work. We laugh saying we had lots of yard furniture--only trouble is, we never really got to sit down and enjoy it.

Above, is the blue and white table I call the "picket fence table" because of the back slats. The scroll work is a polymer clay. Before firing the clay vines and leaves I punctured them here and there with sticks of uncooked spaghetti, in effect drilling holes for the tiny white nails I used to secure them later on the table.

The top of the table I painted blue, then I thinned some white artist acrylic and laid down the transparent leaves. I gave the table to my mother in law Betty for Mother's Day one year.

I should have taken some close up photos of the leaves--they turned out well. This table is 5 ft, with three holes to receive 10"clay pots. Frankly, we used the tables to serve food to guests on the brick patio at our old place. Plates sit securely in the holes, and don't slide around.

When I first met Jon we used to sit on his front porch swing and visit. When we married Jon brought the swing to my home. Jon converted the porch swing to a bench. I found material I liked (shown here), made pillows, and handpainted a refurbished oval coffee table to match.

Above, at the bottom right, you can see a stone decorated ball. Its actually a bowling ball I covered with fired polymer clay, and painted it out with faux stone finish.

When we got married Jon asked me where do you want to get married? I said, I'd like to get married in my (our) backyard and of course I'd like a 40 ft. square brick patio with a fountain. By golly, we got married at home in the backyard, and Jon made my wish come true building the 40 x 40 patio with fountain.