Hey Friends!
Today I'm going a little bit country.
My cousin, Ryan, gave me quite the challenge
painting the tail of his windmill.
Thank goodness he bought it unassembled
so I didn't have to go up in a cherry picker lift
to paint it! ha.
Ryan recently purchased his grandparents farm
and is bringing energy and life to the setting
with his newly painted red barn
and now windmill to match.
I needed help from an expert
in painting outdoor metals,
so I went to Mr Iske, our local industrial arts teacher.
His classes build and paint race cars
and he is savvy about agricultural buildings.
Sooo...
I started by laying my design out in Photoshop.
I took a picture of the tail,
layered it into photoshop
and experimented with different fonts
and lettering arrangements
until we found the right color and design.
This is a photoshop sample:
Here is another one:
Then,
in real life : )
I started to prep.
Sand with 80 grit sandpaper.
Clean with aerosol solvent "Brakleen".
You can find this at Napa or O'Reilly Auto.
It is used to clean brake systems.
Let dry completely.
Next, I made a stencil with cardstock and packaging tape
and sprayed a primer onto the metal,
using 616 Cold Galvanizing Primer.
That takes a good 24 hours to dry.
Brush on Van Sickle brand paint.
No sealer needed.
Allow at least 8 hour drying time between coats.
Yep, it's a marathon project.
It was the centerpiece of my living room
for about a week.
I love that Ryan wanted to pay tribute
to his grandparents
with their names and date established.
What a blessing to the Hrdlicka family.
I know -
not my typical paint project.
Now let's see how it weathers!
I figure if they use this paint on tractors
we should be good to go.
Thanks so much for stopping by!
Deb
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