A Harlequin Table (How to Remain Calm in The Face Of Trauma)

I’m going to show you the transformation of this petite coffee table

to this pretty harlequin table

I am also going to teach you a valuable lesson on how not to panic in the face of trauma.
Only you will understand WHY this could have been a disaster…
The uninformed people would sneer and say…”over a stupid table?”
Those people are like gnats that buzz around your head…just shoo them away because they cannot possibly understand the seriousness of this…..

                         HEAT TRANSFER TRAUMA!!

I handpainted the squares because I am TOO lazy to tape all that off
plus Frog Tape costs the EXACT SAME AMOUNT I plan to charge for this table….

I was going for a vintage look and was not worried that it could be checked for accuracy by a guy with a slide ruler

YOUNG’UN SIDEBAR:
Slide Ruler: a stick with numbers and NO batteries that allowed people to bring back Apollo 13 from whipping out of Earth’s gravity to char up in the sun like a marshmallow on a stick……..that and some duct tape

Looking good…now for something in the center. You can hear the creepy sound behind me as the audience screams….”no! Don’t do it”!!
I sneer in the face of danger…..

This crown from Graphics Fairy looks good! Tape it onto the table…

…..set up my cute little work station…you’ll notice I didn’t even put my name on this one…

Go ahead…steal this pic….I know you want to copy it you shameless people…..

Off we go into the wild blue yonder….
Exactly what the Apollo 13 crew said before they realized they were up the atmosphere without propulsion…

Handy dandy MS heat tool….

Heating, and rubbing, rubbing and heating…sipping tea…
thinking about how people will mob my booth to get their hands on this

coming up with CUTE names…(I love people who name their furniture)…

let’s lift the corner and see how it’s going shall we?

Uh…that would be paper stuck onto the table…..only I didn’t say “uh”…

Here’s the part where I tell you not to panic…remain calm…….

You don’t need to repaint your table with all those little squares…two coats in each one…..no you don’t.

Here is why I knew that…because I understood the science of why this heat transfer works in the first place….

Here’s the science….laser printers are toner based. They function by spraying powder onto paper which then goes through heated rollers to make it adhere to the paper. There’s a lot of complicated stuff going on with electrostatic charges and such but basically that’s the idea. That’s why the paper is warm when it comes out. Using a heat tool, re-heats the printed area and releases it from the paper. When you rub it, it rubs off the paper onto your object. It does not come off with water.

So, after talking myself (out loud) through Lesson One…..I laid the paper back down and kept heating and rubbing…screw the tea…I wasn’t thirsty anymore…..

As I worked on the image I knew that the paper was going to be stuck all over the table.

I knew Lesson Three already which made me review
Lesson One before I went to Lesson Two again……are you following all this?

I used a rag dampened with water to barely wet the paper…

Pulled off what I could and began to rub gently…remember Lesson Three….

It all came off and I was happy……

I finished it off with a mixture of MMS clear wax and AS dark wax…..

It came out just great…….

Piece of cake…..

Oops…I almost forgot…