Serving tray

[Two Much]

My next small project is going to be a serving tray for the DR table.
I want it to be fairly big about 14" x 21" with handles. I plan on painting it
and having a mirrored bottom. Of course all that could change...
Has anyone made anything like this? Any pics to show of trays you may have
made? I want it to be both plain and fancy., if that makes any sense

Joann

[capncarl]

Not a serving tray, but I did consider making this table top removable to use as a serving tray. Glass insert is a dishwasher safe glass cutting board. (Being dishwasher safe has nothing to do with it, it just describes the cutting board).
capncarl

[Two Much]

Nice, I love it.

[Two Much]

ok, Back to the tray...The size is going to be 15" x 17"

The bottom is going to be mahogany (stained)

The sides (3/4" w x 1 1/4" high) are going to be painted oak,
probably gold, maybe red, or a combo of both red and gold.

It will have feet.

Now for the question...which handles do you like between these two?
They're both 5" wide... the top one is about 1/4" higher than the bottom one.

[cwsmith]

I like the lower handle best. While I think the upper has a slightly nicer visual appeal, the lower would be more comfortable to lift and carry. So I guess much depends on whether this is just for show or to use.

My thought is that the straight piece at the top of the handle (instead of the curve) makes the difference on your fingers. (But, I would probably not lift it by the handles anyway... thinking that grasping it by the underside of the tray would be a lot safer

CWS

[Two Much]

CWsmith, thanks for your quick response. I agree the curved one has more appeal.
I don't plan on picking it up by the handle.

I'm making this tray to highlight a big
ceramic fish that was a gift from our son. I made a floral arrangement for it,
and to me it looks like something is missing on the table. I'm glad you like the curved
one better... since the fish has wavey fins, I guess the curved one is nicer.
However, I do like the flat top one better, as it has a masculine flair.
I love to mix feminine and masculine spirits together.

[Two Much]

So the tray is all together and ready for its final sanding and finishing.
I did decide on the curved handle because of the big wavy tail fin of the fish.

I want to combine stain and red paint. I also want to try and antique the red.
I'm not sure how to do the antiquing part? Paint the parts I want to be red,
then with an artist brush -- lightly apply some stain, or rag on some stain?

[Two Much]

ok, it's done. It was stained, painted and painted again. We popped out the center (bottom)
and I painted it red...then for the final paint, I did it with Rusteloum antique bronze.
I sprayed the brass chandlier with this spray paint several years ago and it looked good,
so, I used the same paint for the tray. First I shellaced it.
You can see by the size of the fish and arrangement, why I thought we needed a
substancial tray...

Not our finest work. My original intention was to stain it -- to look like mahagony (like the
inside bottom) but that didn't work out. We put too much work into this tray, not to
use it...perhaps just until we make a better one.