Making a Lazy Susan for a Sculpture
April 3, 2023 2:47 am
Making a lazy susan for a sculpture is an opportunity to custom fit a spinning base for your 3D creation. A lazy Susan is a rotating tray that makes a great podium for 3D sculptures. While there are many pre-made lazy Susan trays available for purchase, you can use a custom made wooden circle that can be affixed to lazy susan hardware. I bought my lazy susan hardware on Amazon and Ebay. The hardware comes in various shapes and sizes. The wood circles can be bought at craft stores and hardware stores. With the right tools, you can custom make your wood circles sized to fit the size of your 3D work. There is freedom to tailor the style, size, and materials to your specific needs if you go the DIY route with your lazy susan.
Here are some specifics to considers when making a lazy susan for sculpture:
Attach the lazy Susan hardware. Follow the instructions that come with the hardware to attach it to the board. Typically, this involves screwing in a base plate to the bottom of the board and then attaching a swivel plate on top of it.
Sand and finish the lazy Susan. Smooth out any rough spots. You can also stain or paint the board to give it a finished look. I used three coats of Watco Danish Oil in maple and walnut stain colors. I also used blue Unicorn Spit gel stain which got me incredible color after I added a polyurethane sealant. I used three coats of poly to really bring out the color of the Unicorn Spit.
Making a lazy susan for a sculpture can fascinate the viewer and capture them in the “Right Now.” The ability to spin a 3D creation, and view it at all angles, sparks conversation, imagination, and magic in the viewer. The artist and the art appreciator both have an opportunity to interact with (and even manipulate) time’s passing with the turn of the turntable. This is the “liminal magic” that making a lazy susan for a sculpture can ignite. Watch the video, below, to see me creating a custom lazy susan in the woodshop. Ask questions about my process or use this blog and video as inspiration to create your own 3D lazy susan as a pedestal for a recent creation.
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