Any Artistic/DIY folk here..?

[Garrett]

I'm looking for some inspiration/guidance.. I have a basic Ikea coffee table that I'm looking to cover, originally thought about something like this or perhaps this.

I lack imagination as far as anything artistic is concerned, anyone got any other ideas..?

 

[Fzero]

Have done the comic style one before, but completely covered it no gaps... Was an Ikea table too.


PVA glue done it, gave a good seal and a bit of gloss to it.


Was thinking of a glass on top of that but in end just added a varnish layer.


I think comic "text" would look nice, lots of "POW", "KAAAAPOW" and "BOSH!".


Colourful.


Another really nice one, which my friend done years ago....


5p coins.


His square coffee table originally had a glass top, the glass sat plush as it had a recess cut out.


All 5p coins in a grid of 50x50 or whatever it was.


Looked really nice. Black table and the silver coin top

 

[Garrett]

Have done the comic style one before, but completely covered it no gaps... Was an Ikea table too.


PVA glue done it, gave a good seal and a bit of gloss to it.


Was thinking of a glass on top of that but in end just added a varnish layer.


I think comic "text" would look nice, lots of "POW", "KAAAAPOW" and "BOSH!".


Colourful.


Another really nice one, which my friend done years ago....


5p coins.


His square coffee table originally had a glass top, the glass sat plush as it had a recess cut out.


All 5p coins in a grid of 50x50 or whatever it was.


Looked really nice. Black table and the silver coin top

I really like the sound of the comic text idea, if I was to go with that how would you suggest I went about it..?

The coins are an interesting idea too, not keen on the gaps that would be left between them though

Someone on another forum suggested covering the whole table (incl legs) in various world banknotes.

 

[Pritchy]

Tetris style.

Mario!

Both of these would be relatively simple to do, and look pretty great, obviously yours would look a little different

edit: Holy crap this is awesome:

 

[Garrett]

Tetris style.

Mario!

Both of these would be relatively simple to do, and look pretty great, obviously yours would look a little different

edit: Holy crap this is awesome:

Loving the Tetris one, can you give me the link please..

 

[comradekingu]

Old cpu shims?

 

[Pritchy]

http://blog.sailairstudios.com/2013/11/11/nablopomo-day-11-tetris-table/

It's just a render, unfortunately. I was merely conveying the idea, rather than how to execute

 

[Fzero]

Tetris one is sweet, guess that would be those Tetris lights [which I have ] available for around £15 under a piece of glass? You'd need a few sets of those lights though for table that size.

Regarding the bank notes, or the comic text ones ... I've not used this stuff myself, I just used PVA, but this I think would be a better more professional result; Mod Podge.

Demonstrated here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9Yhxzgpd24

I think it is an acrylic medium type glue, it isn't expensive, couple quid for a pot of it.

That will stick it to the wood well, also can be applied on top to protect and give a completely transparent layer of gloss. It also protects paper against yellowing. [i'm getting that from the vid there]

They use a little foam roller too, to flatten the paper down onto the wood. I'd say that's a good tip, to prevent air bubbles

 

[Fzero]

Probably your Ikea coffee table isn't ideal, but if you had a deeper table, like shown in Pritchy's render, you could probably use those Tetris lights to make this and would look pretty damn sweet

Especially with the foil/metal strips around the inside edge to reflect of, I like that idea.

You'd just need to have a small hole to run the cable out so you can plug it into the wall...

These are the lights I have:

http://www.firebox.com/product/5339/Tetris-Light

One of the tetromino shapes has the cable jack ... all the others just light up once they touch the one with the cable jack, or another piece off of the piece with the jack... they each have a thin metal edge which is the connectivity.

So, and I'm just guessing here, you could probably get away with just the one cable jack power piece, then connect more tetrominos that actually come in a single pack, so the entire table might have 3 packs of lights but all powering off the single one, so just one plug to connect. I guess that would work

 

[Garrett]

After visiting various craft forums I'm leaning towards sticking whatever to the table top & then applying a pouring resin to finish.. not sure I'd want to achieve a result like this, but it gives an idea.. I wasn't planning on spending the sort of money I'd probably need to for a project like this (mostly cost of resin) but was hoping to achieve a professional result & for the table to become a centerpiece & this seems to be a viable way (& relatively user friendly I'm assured) of getting there.

What do you reckon guys & I'd appreciate any suggestions of interesting artwork/objects etc to apply to the tabletop.

 

[Fzero]

I like the look of that one. Bottle top patterns are a good look.

How about, book spines?

...What I'm thinking about here is, get a load of old well worn books, some classics perhaps, like Frankenstein and Dracula of course, or whatever you into, which could probably pick up for next to nothing I'm sure. Buying a bulk lot from ebay or local charity shop.

Then - and here's the sacrilege part - tear off all the spines, then throw the rest away [or for double sacrilege burn rest of book for winter fuel?]

Stick the spines down in rows, so looks like a mock bookcase effect.

Resin it up so holds well.

Cheap cheap, kind of original [?], and a nice centerpiece as when people are sat around it you have lots of book titles to peruse and spark conversation from ... though of course you couldn't pick up that book and read it

To looks something like this quick mock up I done:

 

[Granitehead]

Burn the heretic!

(why not just make a book case in this unconventional orientation?)

 

[Fzero]

You could do that instead I guess... which would be far more functional too.

...Yeah... actually... do that

 

[Fzero]

I was thinking about SIM cards, just the little gold chips... LOTS of them. But would take an age aligning them all to fill a table. Plus couldn't see anyone selling them for really cheap.

Then thought about phonecards, like the old BT ones we had back when payphones took phonecards. Could get a collection of them from around the world perhaps, sure some look quite interesting?

Then see these, gift cards.

Pretty random, but all same sized and might look ok, all sorts of different imagery used on them...

Thats a shot from this bidding, which is £9 and is for 100 gift cards:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/100-UK-GIFT-CARDS-ALL-DIFFERENT-/350959579881

Garbage Pail Kids, remember those cards, you could buy a complete series set for around £30 and lay those all out, I'd like that but I'm a fan of those artwork.

 

[Garrett]

I like the look of that one. Bottle top patterns are a good look.

How about, book spines?

...What I'm thinking about here is, get a load of old well worn books, some classics perhaps, like Frankenstein and Dracula of course, or whatever you into, which could probably pick up for next to nothing I'm sure. Buying a bulk lot from ebay or local charity shop.

Then - and here's the sacrilege part - tear off all the spines, then throw the rest away [or for double sacrilege burn rest of book for winter fuel?]

Stick the spines down in rows, so looks like a mock bookcase effect.

Resin it up so holds well.

Cheap cheap, kind of original [?], and a nice centerpiece as when people are sat around it you have lots of book titles to peruse and spark conversation from ... though of course you couldn't pick up that book and read it

To looks something like this quick mock up I done:

That's a great idea FZERO you're on fire today bud.. Thing is I'm now leaning towards the Tetris light table & coincidentally I received one of the Tetris light sets as an Xmas gift completely out of the blue from a mate I haven't heard from for years (an Omen maybe?)

I suspect it would be well beyond my limited DIY 'capabilities' & I'm not sure you could run multiple lights from the one power supply, but who knows..

 

[Pritchy]

If you do go with the Tetris idea, just make sure you're okay with how the lights look when they're off. Not gonna be great if the table looks naff half the time or more

 

[Garrett]

If you do go with the Tetris idea, just make sure you're okay with how the lights look when they're off. Not gonna be great if the table looks naff half the time or more

Yeah, I'd considered that after having read a few reviews on Amazon saying that they look crap/cheap etc when off.. the one's I have look fine to me (don't know if I'm just lucky.. better make sure I get the same brand) there's a noticeable seam around the edges, but if I'm laying them face down/up that's not an issue.

 

[levi]

So I take it nothing came from your previous Lego table idea then? Shame!

 

[Fzero]

Would you have the Tetris lights under a glass plate?

If so, could perhaps add a tint to the glass, which you can get in pretty much any colour for a £6.00

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-x-305mm-Roll-Of-Window-Tint-Film-Glass-Transparent-Self-Adhesive-Vinyl-Fablon-/190697052597

Maybe a smoky grey or a low tint black, which would make the table glass top more pleasing on the eye rather than just the unlit Tetris blocks, but still allow for them to shine through well when you do plug it in and turn it on

 

[Garrett]

Would you have the Tetris lights under a glass plate?

If so, could perhaps add a tint to the glass, which you can get in pretty much any colour for a £6.00

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1m-x-305mm-Roll-Of-Window-Tint-Film-Glass-Transparent-Self-Adhesive-Vinyl-Fablon-/190697052597

Maybe a smoky grey or a low tint black, which would make the table glass top more pleasing on the eye rather than just the unlit Tetris blocks, but still allow for them to shine through well when you do plug it in and turn it on

If I went for the Tetris light idea I'd want them under a glass plate, but probably wouldn't do this myself (there's a pretty good glass/wood workshop close to where I live) fancy having it hinged/removable too, so I can change round the light arrangement as i see fit.

I hadn't considered tinted glass, but certainly won't rule it out.. I guess whether or not it dims the light too much comes down to personal taste.