Thursday, June 11, 2009

Antique/new coffee table

My girlfriend Deb C. gave me this wonderful old storm window to make into a coffee table for my dye studio. This is how it looked when I started. The legs I bought are standing behind it. I began by painting on primer and 2 coats of cream color paint. I had this old bear paw quilt I bought years ago, there were only a few good blocks in it, I used them and I cut and pieced the lattice strips for the other window panes. My husband made the table so it will open from the bottom and I can change out the quilt later.

And this is the finished table, which I thought looked great, but the minute I put it in the room I knew I didn't like it with the other furniture. It was too tall and too bright, it looked like a big boat!
My furniture is too contemporary to go with it. So, my husband cut the legs down and I proceeded to repaint it again, another 3 coats. It now has 6 coats of fresh paint on and how many from years ago I don't know.

I don't know if this is as cute as it was, but now it's sort of county/contemporary (if there is such a thing) and goes a lot better with the furniture.


Here's the finished table with my furniture. Now, I don't know if I like it with the yellow quilt squares.



I did have the dye pot going trying to get green (hm mm) from comfrey. This is picture of the plant in my garden. I used leaves and stems.


And what a surprise I got gold! I thought I'd try an after rinse with iron water, I have a old iron pot that I filled with the left over dye water and simmered it on stove for a hour, I added a piece of the dyed wool and left it awhile. I ended up with this "army" green, which in real life is not that pretty, I didn't add any more fabric. I hate to add wool to an iron modifier as they say it weakens the fibers and when putting the fabric into quilts you want as much life out of your fabric as you can get.





2 comments:

t said...

Hi Kathy

What a great way to use an old window. I love it. And the fact that you can change the material that you place under the glass is great. Looks much better darker colour.

The yellow that you are getting from your comfrey is very similar to the yellow from my cassinia. I also get an army green after placing it into an iron pot. I am presently looking for other greens in my native bush environment.

xt

Deb Hardman said...

The coffee table turned out great! I think the bear paws look good, they just don't match the other furniture. Maybe you need to add a few throw pillows with yellow, or just a vase of yellow flowers. David Bromstad says to repeat the color 3 times in the space.

I have some iron tablets that I had to take after surgery. I wonder if they can be thrown in the dye pot!

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