Sunday, August 29, 2010

Humbled by spray paint

Okay...you all know I'm new to refinishing furniture, and I rely heavily on my fellow, more experienced artists. Since I'm okay with asking a lot of questions, and have found a great talent pool, both on the internet and in the shops that I visit, I get a lot of good advice. So I'm hoping that SOMEONE, or MANY someones can help me!

I like Rustoleum spray paint, and I've used it on many pieces. After one disaster in my brand-new days, I've learned that prepping is essential, so I sand or strip before I apply the paint, and I've learned how to have a relatively light and even hand when I'm spraying. The pieces usually turn out pretty nice, and I've also learned when to touch up, sand down, re-paint, etc. So imagine my surprise when THIS happened:





I was astonished, since I hadn't done anything different, and had never seen this before. I waited 24 hours, sanded down the bubbles, and sprayed another coat on. The same thing happened! In desperation, I finally grabbed a brush, and sprayed & brushed, sprayed & brushed...that worked. But, holy cow!!!

Does anyone have any ideas on why this might have happened???

What crazy things have you run into during your projects??

Mona Kay

10 comments:

  1. I had the same thing happen to me a little bit ago. I was thinking it may have been the heat (It was in the 90's) but I don't know. I hope someone does know!

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  2. I'm not good at painting. I have no idea why it did that. I'd talk to the manufacturer about it.
    Brenda

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  3. Was the nozzle bad? I've had them clog up a little and spray out little globs.

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  4. Brenda...good idea, there must be a contact on the website!

    Thanks Betty...y'know, I did leave the can outside overnight...I wonder if the humidity clogged it....

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  5. CindyLou...it was a hot day...but I've painted on hot days before...I'm just sooo baffled!! Thank you for the input!

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  6. as it a hot day? Moisture in the air??? I dont know... How strange.

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  7. hi! just popped over from brenda's blog.

    i find that certain spray paint colors tend to be almost watery. i never get good results with pale yellow. the same bubbling happens.

    my idea would be to sand the bubbles off and then color match some paint. this way you can paint over the chair but won't have to worry about covering every inch -- almost consider the spray a primer.

    good luck ~ hope that helped a little.

    xo
    elyse

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  8. hi. can't imagine why that happened. Perhaps phone up the manufacturer if there is a helpline number? Love your blog, especially all the interesting bits down the sides!
    countrymouse xxxx

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  9. hi, i'm a visual artist and i do a lot of texture work and a technique that i use is called the bubble effect that is where you used the a heat gun to purposely bubble the paint and what happens is the hot air from the heat gun gets trapped under the paint and creates a nice bubble. you said that it was hot out so i suppose the same thing happened with your chair. natural bubbles are the best you should have embraced them and used them to add texture to your chair as something new and different

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  10. That happens when using too high of a speed when using a mixer. It could be left over wax or left over cleaning agent.

    -CF
    Wagner Paint Sprayer

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