Last year, I had the joy of turning a terrible round of poor quality plywood into a classy marble table top. I'm happy to report that it is still ensconced in its decorative position, and that nobody has thought to question how a few spindly table legs are holding up a substantial slab of marble.
It was a solid day of filling big gaps, sanding, filling smaller gaps, sanding, filling miniscule gaps, sanding, painting, sanding ad infinitum to get the perfect surface to even begin marbling on. I eschewed the proverbial feather and stuck with brush work. Maybe all those years of curvise make me preferential to calligraphy brushes for veining. I sponged on hazes and flicked water onto them to create little pools of "mineral deposits." There were plenty of tinted clear coats between the layers of detail work, to help provide the illusion of greater depth. And of course, plenty of time on youtube to learn even more new and fabulous techniques.
All said, I'm still about as happy with it now as I was then, which is saying a lot. As a props artisan, I am constantly critiquing my work and expect to have it mercilessly critiqued by others. Sure, there are some sanding lines I couldn't fill in, some brush strokes that wouldn't blend, but...it was all done in one work day with not enough dry time, so I'm cutting myself some slack. So far so good!
