The legend of sirens luring sailers to their deaths with their singing , was widely beleived by most not that long ago. Sirens, unlike mermaids, have two tail-like appendages. The Starbucks logo in this piece is actually third generation. The first logo,often referred to as the "porn logo" ,has a bare breasted siren holding her tails one in each arm. The second logo is very similer to the current one in use except you see where the tails join the torso and most interesting depics a belly button. This version is called the "belly button" version. This means sirens are born , like us, not hatched as are mermaids. My tables are called "Star Tables" because at night they reflect the stars. What really makes it special is that when you move by one, these reflections dance over the surface . Of course these same stars guided the sailers on their voyages and were often used to depic other mythological gods and creatures in star tables and maps. This was my very first piece ever. It was commisioned by them after veiwing other traditional mosaic tables . These were the broken tile type, however that technique did not work for this piece because of lack of detail . So I developed some new methods for shaping the stone work ,as well as a much smoother edge. The table weighs in at just under 1000 pounds. Every stone is cut free hand and hand polished, with individual pieces taking as long as 45 minutes to cut . Some had to be redone 3 times before they would fit. The top alone took more than 300 hours over 9 months to produce. It has had thousands of people over the years sit at it , and is holding up just great. The black lines on the white areas is just white grout that needs to be cleaned and sealed.