“Milkatee Wants A Cinnamon Roll”: acrylic and marker on reclaimed maple.

Meet Milkatee!

Milkatee is a hungry fella’. Made from real whole SeaCowMilk, Milkatee is far more than just 2% awesome. But don’t tell him that. He thinks he’s 100% HippoPopAmus. Yes, that’s Hippo-Pop-Amus.

In the traditional stylings of the ToeHead illustrations, this SnackHack is painted using flat graphic acrylics on reclaimed lumber. This vintage maple wood coffee table top has been completely refurbished from the ground up.  Split slats, flakey varnish, and cup rings have all but vanished into the past. Milkatee’s wood rainbow (floating above the Cinnamon Roll Tree) is a faint remnant of an ornamental fixture that is no longer present. When I found this coffee table top I saw true potential for a high quality wood restoration job… under some serious grime and grit.

“Reclaiming wood is far more time-consuming than buying new wood. But reclaimed wood has a visual history, an inherent warmth. It’s truly satisfying to give something a new life while hinting at its old one.”

Round 1: This table top needed some lovin’. LOTS of lovin’. The posted pictures are after an initial scraping and sanding. There seems to be layers of … well… a dark gummy gunk of strange origins? Not good for my expensive sander.

Round 2: After scraping the surface with a good ol’ fashioned razor blade, I prepared it for a second sanding.

Round 3: The boards also have separated due to years of humidity changes and need glued back together. 

Round 4: After the glue starts to set up, I scraped off the overflow  and gave it the final sanding.

Interested in more process shots? Click here.