Painting the Babe{ by Rois, Wednesday 10 February 2010 - 15:38:54 } |
| I got mine from Babe's Fiber Garden. However our very own Phattie Dawning Dreams also sells Babe wheels and anything Nels has at the fiber garden can be purchased through Dawn. Step 2: Beat up the mail delivery dude cause he didn't actually try to deliver the package Oh wait...that one's just me... Actual Step 2: Pick some paint colours and stain I got Rustoleum Metallic Green, model paint in Bronze (the colour in the picture is another bottle of silver that we have kicking around), and Varathane wood stain in Golden Mahogany.  Step 3: Sand the PVC I used 220 grit sandpaper. That's really fine finishing paper, you just want to scuff the surface a bit to give the paint something to hold onto not put big, deep scratch marks on it. Those will show through the paint. This is also when I peeled the stickers off...if you read the directions on putting the wheel together first it tells you to put the shaft into the base with the sticker facing upright...figure out a way to remember which way is up. The wheel will rub the maiden if you get it upside down. I had to use a bit of Goo Gone to get all of the back of one sticker off, I wiped the spot down with a little vinegar water to make sure all the solvent was off. I also wiped the base where the treadles go, I could see some grease on it from when Nels had assembled the wheel originally. I checked my treadles and flyer but they were good clean naked wood so they didn't need any sanding at this point. Step 4: Plastic is your friend Protect anything you don't want sprayed with paint. I covered the ends of the main shaft that the wheel is on and the wheel itself. I like the black of the wheel. And I covered the ends of the shaft because they have to go into the fittings on the base and the maiden. They are designed to be a tight fit to start and if you cover them in paint it will likely scrape off and make fitting the pieces together difficult. I also laid some plastic over the flyer and treadles, don't want a random spray to get them. Step 5: Get spraying! Spray on the first coat of colour nice and even. Spray paint is picky about how you put it on...so if you need to practice on a box or something first do it. If you spray too much on in one spot it will run.  Step 6: Staining While the paint was drying I stained the treadles and flyer. The stain I picked up is oil-based so pick a brush you don't care about throwing away if you get oil based too. Or you can spend waaaaay to much time cleaning the stain out of your brush. I'm too lazy for that.   Step 7: Wait impatiently I did this....it annoyed everyone in the house...of course I had to paint this in my basement so the BF got bitchy about the smell too. I gave it about an hour. Step 8: Check your work Spray paint dries super fast, so check your work and make sure everything is as evenly coated and you like. I went ahead and did a second coat over parts of the base and the shaft. I got a really good coat on the maiden first try. Step 9: Wait again Now the hard part...you have to leave it sit for at least 12 hours. You can do it! You have to sleep sometime. Step 10: Check your work again Carefully peel off the plastic, it might be a bit stuck to the paint at the edges. Check your treadles and flyer too. I liked the colour after one coat of stain, you might want more. Step 11: More Paint If you are spraying the contrast colour cover all the parts you want to stay the original colour. More plastic and lightly applied painters tape should be fine. I brushed on my contrast colour. I wanted it to look rougher than the green. So a tiny brush and lots of patience later I had my first coat of copper on. I went down the holes in the top of the maiden too, I thought it looked cool. This is also when I decided to clear coat my treadles. I didn't do the flyer because sometimes clear coat has bubble in it that would catch the fiber and annoy me. Step 12: Wait some more If you are using model paint it takes a very long time to dry. I got my first coat on the first night on the maiden cause the green went on very well, so I put a second coat on the maiden after the first coat on the base. I waited about 5 hours between coats of model paint. Step 13: Last coat of paint! Check to make sure your paint is dry. The more coats you have on something the longer they take to dry! I finished the last coat of paint on my wheel around supper time. Step 14: Put it together! Make sure you regrease the clips on the bottom of the treadles and everywhere else that the instructions say. Any grease that was there was probably peeled off by plastic or you wiped it off before you started.  You are all done and ready to spin! |
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