(If this should be moved, go ahead. I couldn't see anyplace better for it than here.)

I have the base to a Dragon Nite Club table that my wife bought for me over 20 years ago. Many years ago, the top and shelves were lost. I rebuilt the top and shelves and made a second top with the idea that I would make a black art table out of it. Hence now, a question; what's the usual dimensions of the squares of a black art table? The table top itself is 24" X 14 5/8", and I've got an idea how to measure off the squares... but how big?

I would think they can be any size as long as they seem proportional to the table top and big enough for whatever you want to go through them. Many years ago I had a top with one opening big enough for a dove, but the top wasn't squared off -- it was just one opening in an otherwise black surface.

I wasn't sure if making them too big might make them obvious. Thanks. I'm going between three and four inches.

The most standard designs are squares and rectangles because they are easier to work into a pattern. In their heyday, 2.5" X 2.5", 3.0"X3.0" and 3.5"X3.5" were very popular for square. This worked well for everthing from billiard balls to tumbler magic. 2.5"X 4.0" was a popular design for replacing behind the table servants used for many effects. Donald Holmes who manufactured a variety of black art table designs in the 1920s had a 15" square tabletop with a 3.5"X5.5". This was placed at the front edge of the table and was used to vanish bulky items like alarm clocks. Anything bigger than this was better done by a servant which tended to be about 8" to 12" X 5" to 6".

But these sizes weren't for a nightclub style table, rather a cloth covered one. And so, they couldn't be too big as the bigger the well, the deeper they had to be. It wouldn't look right with a really long cloth hanging down. With a nightclub table you don't have this limitation. Of course, you would lose some functionality of the top shelf if the wells were really deep!

Well, the Dragon Nite Club table is solid in the front. So that shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for the lesson, 3.5" sounds like a plan!

The Mark Wilson Course has plans for a black art table, which you could modify. When I built one, it was deceptive from a foot away. Triple velvet is the stuff to get. Never use felt.

Well now, thanks for that thought. The OLD "black art" table that I had; (the center leg type) used felt. It never gave me a problem. Why specifically "triple velvet?"

Velvet captures light better than felt making the wells less perceptible.

The Tarbell Course also has a complete lesson on using black art tables. It includes his design for the table with three wells (two 3.75"X3.75" and one 3.75"X2.25" at rear), a card slot, and a removable servant.

Back when I was doing my cards-and-doves act I made a "night club table" that had a well on top, maybe 4x5 or thereabouts, to vanish a dove. I used black felt for the top and lined the well with the same material. I did not grid it because it would have looked totally out of place with the design of the table. In fact, the well also served a separate purpose. I looked at that well from every angle I could think of, over and over, with different lighting, and never had a problem with it.