Its still to cold outside for me to start working on new tables. If there were no pandemic, I'd be using this time to search for new bases and new focus stones. Instead I'm going over images of the 150 or so tables I've made and reminding myself how the focus of my work has evloved.  Today the subject is my 30th table, Silver Buffalo.  

My wife Judy introduced me to Susan Judy ( stonequiltdesign.com ) who makes wonderful mozaic works using semi-precious stones.  Susan encouraged me to use more than Lyons sandstone on my table tops.  Previous posts show that most of my work now features sem-precious foucus stones, in an abstract pattern.  I decided to try making a top with a less abstract fooucs, the result is the Silver Buffalo top you see above. I decided to go with a buffalo, because its the symbol of the Univeristy of Colorado in Boulder where I live.  

The buffalo is composed of pieces of stone tiles I got at the local Resource Center.  I chisled them to fit a pattern I had drawn on the plywood base and glued them down before gluing the surrounding slabs of Lyons sandstone.  I then followed the normal procedure of sealing, grouting, and resealing to top.

I now include less abstract designs in some of my tops, but rather than assembling them from chisled hunks of semi-precious stones, I have them cut with a waterjet from slabs of pure white marble.  See for example: https://www.wkpaccenttables.com/listing/696814330/white-buffalo-a-20-12-x-20-12-x-23-tall