A Table with Racing Strips?

Ok, sweet friends.  My teachers come back to work tomorrow so this may be my last post for a week or two until I can come up for air.  No worries, though.  I've got a great buffet in the garage waiting for my attention.  Soon enough!

So I found this library table at a flea market last month.  To my delight, it was already painted white.  One less thing to do!

The only problem is, it was too plain.  

So I decided to put stripes down the middle.  First I measured for their placement and used a straight edge to draw them in place.  Then I used the pencil lines a guides for the painter's tape.

(If you look closely you can see the pencil line for the bottom edge of the stripe)

Once it was taped off, I started to paint.  I used ASCP Emperor's Silk.  Two coats was just enough to get a great red stripe.

Well that little stripe needed some help, so I decided to put smaller stripes on either side.  I used the same method as above to mark and tape off the stripes.  Then painted them in!

When I pulled the tape off I had the coolest grain sack-inspired stripes!

I loved it!  But it was still lacking something.  So I decided to follow through with the grain sack motif.  I printed out (in reverse) a design I worked up on my Silhouette and copied it on a toner-based machine.  Then I taped it face down in the center of the table.

I used a blender pen to transfer the image and burnished it with the back of a spoon, working one small section at a time so it wouldn't dry out.  Here's what it looked like when I finished.  

The transfer worked great but I wanted it a little darker so it could compete with my bold red stripes.  So I grabbed a Sharpie marker and started filling in the design.

Darker is definitely better!

I was careful not to color in each area completely so it would have a more distressed look.

It turned out exactly as I had hoped!

Does it look like a landing strip?

Or racing stripes?

This is yet another piece I would love to keep if I had room!

I bet this one won't last long!

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