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Saturday, October 06 - Day One
We begin with a brief history of the castle, and how it has fallen into such ruin. As mentioned before,
this came from a yard sale. Seller Mom says she was dumping it because her daugher had soooo much stuff, she wasn't caring
for any of it very well. None of the furniture, or the front door or the light-up tower was included,
so I did a bit of research. Mattel's parts replacement department had the tower and the door, but it'd cost roughly seven
times what I paid for the whole thing to buy. So eventually, I'll replace it with a round oatmeal container. The door I can
probably also make from foamcore or something.
Mattel's reused this basic design several times. About the only difference between this Swan Lake one
and the Princess and the Pauper one is some sticker graphics and the staircase. The Disney Cinderella Enchanted Evening Castle
is the same thing, just the left half of it, with the Princess/Pauper staircase and in blue. Our Big Lots had those for
$25. a few months ago. Having this one on my consicence kept me from buying it.
I was amazed to find this $120. toy six months after its Christmas season release for $5., but I always
intended to paint it. I mean, that pink is just too much ! But as the years passed, it got moved more than it got played with.
Colors faded around the stickers, and it got dirty. This week, though, I gave it serious thought and bought a can of Fusion
spray paint by Krylon - Textured Shimmer, in a cream color with tiny black and grey flecks that give it a slightly gravelly
texture.
Dragged it and the Fusion to Beloved Hubby's workshop, where he had a cleared workspace waiting for me,
along with a mostly-empty jug of mineral spirits. Yup. Says on the Fusion can to wipe down unweathered surfaces with standard
paint thinner...which is mineral spirits.
Started peeling off the two or three dozen stickers inside and out. Didn't want the various happy chipmunks,
doves, and bunnies scattered around inside and out anymore. Not having to tape over and paint around them would
make spraying much easier, too. The vanity sticker will be replaced with a mirror surface, and the prop stickers were just
unnecessary. Discovered that I didn't need a razor blade for the stickers once they had some mineral spirits applied to 'em
! They just peeled right up. Safer, and less damage to the castle, too. You could use Goo Gone, but you need mineral spirits
anyway, and they're cheaper than Goo Gone. I don't know what adhesive Mattel uses on the product decals, I just hope NASA
uses the same stuff to attatch heat tiles to the Space Shuttles.
I kept the fireplace flames, the cat in front of 'em, and the clock stickers. All the rest, from portraits
on the walls to birds on the wing are gone. Here's hoping I can save those few I liked.
That done, I noticed how dirty it was. So the next two hours were spent cleaning it from top to bottom,
and noting the few hundred tiny crevices. This is gonna be a fun one, folks. Wiped down the whole thing inside and out with
mineral spirits applied with discarded Beloved socks, and figured out what pieces could be removed, what'd have
to be masked off when it came time to paint.
So, while I didn't get to paint today, I got the ground work done. Besides, I have to do a primer coat before
I use the textured stuff, so I have to go shopping again before I actually put paint on this palace. Beloved Hubby's a professional
painter, and he said he wouldn't take on this project for any amount of money. So stay tuned while I bravely go where
pros fear to tread !
Costs so far : $10.58
Castle - $5.
Fusion paint (not used, but consulted) - $4.58
Mineral Spirits (used roughly a pint, Beloved pays $8/gallon) - $1.
Rags (two worn-out Beloved socks) - free
Sunday, October 07 - Day Two
How do you like our 'episode break' ? That's one of the decals I peeled
off yesterday, scanned and edited for your amusement. Plus, I love stargazer lillies, and I was happy I could save it in a
notebook. That'll be in between each new day's work, so it'll be easier to keep track of what you've already read.
And here's a bit of trivia - it's my first on-site transparent .gif ! I just learned how to do those, and
this is the first one on here without a background. Whee !
So. Onward !
Bought a can of Fusion to use as a primer, in a creamy beige. I figured
that pink would be hard to cover up, and I don't have much experience with spray paint, so it'd be best if I got some practice
with an undercoat. The satin finish was actually slightly cheaper than the textured stuff that'll go on over it.
Before I could paint, though, I had to tape up all the windows and remove
any pieces I either didn't want, or didn't want sprayed. There they are, in piles. A small cabinet with a missing door pulled
right off. The spinning platform for the missing tower also came right off, as did the odd water-fountain bowl - it sort of
looks like a holy water font to me, and I have no idea what it's supposed to be or why it's there. There was also a fold-down
bench seat, and that popped off, too.
Couldn't get the rest of the water fountain off, and the bedstead broke,
but most of it came up. Mostly I just wanted to lose the big embossed 'B' on it. The small balcony popped off with some screwdriver
encouragement, but it wasn't easy.
The railings in the second floor bathroom and bedroom are gonna have
to get taped off, it's too tightly in the holes for it. Not sure if I'm gonna paint the floors, or look for cheap carpet samples.
The bathroom vanity also would either get broken or break the walls, so it gets painted around. I might just leave it blue.
I'm kind of leaning towards black for the fireplace...
After a quick dusting and final wipe down, it was time for our first application
of paint ! Looks better already, doesn't it ? I'm glad this is just primer, though - there's several spots where I coated
it too thickly. Still getting the hang of spray paint.
Fusion is pretty much everything it says it is. One end was dry before I
finished the other end, and it didn't chip or slide or dry thickly. It took about three coats and most of the can to do this.
That pink was pretty darn aggressive ! You can see the can in the photo.
The windows are still taped up, and while I'll probably buy at least two
more cans of Fusion tomorrow, I don't think I'll paint until Tuesday. The interior's gonna be a killer, even if it's just
primer. I want to make sure the exterior is thoroughly dry before I attempt anything. Plus, I'm gonna have to tape up
the outside of the windows, and I don't want the masking tape to peel up primer paint.
Still, I'm impressed by Fusion so far. Just think, in a few more days, I
may just have a castle I can be proud to play with ! (happy grin)
Costs so far : $15.90
Previous work - $10.58
Fusion primer - $4.32
Masking tape - $1.00 (I used part of
an old roll Beloved needed to use up, but I'd have bought one from Dollar Tree otherwise.)
Monday, October 08 - Day Three
I was planning on taking today off from Castle rework, but I read on the
Fusion can that further coats would have to be applied either within 24 hours from the last one, or 7 days later. Hmpft. I'd
like to be done and playin' with this in 7 days ! So I got to work applying the textured Fusion I first bought. That
way, the exterior would be done, and I could begin on the hard stuff !
I don't really like this photo - ya can't tell much of a difference between
the primer and the textured final coat. So I'll probably try a reshoot tomorrow, hopefully then, I can get more of the true
color in the image.
Anyway, there it is. The textured paint hid a multitude of sins, especially
the ones the textured paint itself caused. Probably due to the texture, the spray button wasn't as comfy and easy to use as
the primer I used on Day Two. It also spit and sputtered the first time I pressed down on it. Yup. I bought spray
paint that was already clogged. Ripped out the spray tip, soaked and shook it in paint thinner, like the label said,
and put it back on. This time, I got a strong, wide spray...for about 20 seconds. Then it sputtered a bit, sprayed for about
another 10 seconds, and it was clogged again.
Lather, rinse, repeat. I had to wash out the nozzle three times. Arrgh.
Don't know if I just got a bad tip, or someone tried it in the store and it clogged then, or if the texturing material just
makes for frequent jams, but it was annoying. At least the next coat covered the spit-spots well.
Here's an extreme close-up, so you can see the texture a bit better. Camera
flash really bleached the color - it's somewhere between the first photo and this one. But hopefully here, you can see how
it's sort of gravelly, like stone walls are. It was yer typical slick-smooth plastic before the primer and this stuff !
I used most of the can, even though I didn't go over and over it like I did with the primer. It sprayed
much thicker and I lost quite a bit of paint when the nozzle clogged each time. Plus, I didn't want it to be too gravelly
!
I took down the tape shielding the windows. As you can see here, that Krylon's
some pretty good stuff ! It's a very accurate stencil of the 'royal' windowpanes.
Well, the next part gets harder as all that's left is the interior. And
don't think I haven't questioned again and again if I really wanna mess with it ! But, yeah, if anything, the colors are even
more vivid inside, so on we go. I just may take a day or so off first...although I've already bought the paint.
And I plan on calling Krylon about that *&^%ing clogging nozzle tomorrow
morning.
Costs so far : $27.47 (hopefully that's the end of the expenses !)
Previous work - $15.90
Fusion (2 cans) - $9.16
Black Plasti-cote (paintbrush application) -
$2.41
Tuesday, October 09 - Day Four
Just sort of taking a breather before I start on the more difficult inside
painting. I'm also having problems picking out a color I like for the walls. What I bought is more dark and grey than I wanted,
but Fusion doesn't come in many colors that aren't either *very* bright, or quite gray.
I noticed that there was some pink showing a bit right of center, and daylight showed a few more spots I'd
missed. So I touched it up a bit, and started taping up the windows and the interior...tomorrow, we take the plunge !
This is about right for the color. It really doesn't register well. If you visit the spray-paint section
of your local Mal-Wart or Ace Hardware, it's the palest of the 'Textured Shimmer' paints in the Fusion line. Sort of
beige, sort of off-white, sort of grey, completely hard for a camera to get right when the very light changes the color of
the thing.
Costs so far : $27.47
no new purchases needed today, happily !
Wednesday, October 10 - Day Five
Today, I took a deep breath, and plunged headlong into the interior. But first...
Beloved Hubby and I did a bit of shopping. I was whining that I didn't like any of the Fusion colors for
the interior, they were all too dark. He looked at me quizically, and said, "You do know that you can paint over Fusion with
any other paint, right ? ". D'oh ! This is why I'm doing this page - so you don't have these Thunderous Moments of Feeling
Darn Stupid.
With that little tid-bit lodged in my mind, we hit the spray paint. And I found a lovely beige with just
a bit of peach in it. Yeah, beige with textured dark green 'carpet' paint on the floors. So 1989 ! But I thought it was pretty
then, and now, so that's what I'm going with. It's better than flat white, which always screams 'rental' or 'cheap paint'
or 'Booo-ring' in a real house, unless there's lots of wall art or furniture. And, since the paint ain't Fusion, it was much
cheaper !
Here's a shot of everything taped off. Big thing in the center that looks like a wine bottle wrapped
in the liquor-store bag and masking tape is the staircase. The steps don't move, they just spin around, which makes painting
the walls and windows behind 'em lots of fun. Wrapping the tape around the vanity and railings took forever !
I complain that the taping off took forever, but all too soon, taping and cleaning every shelf, wall, ledge,
and floor was finished. It was time to start shaking my ugly can of too-dark not-beige Fusion. I'd have to coat the whole
thing well, since it was primer...and I hated splashing on such ugly paint on my castle. But I did.
Continue if you dare !
AAAAAUUGgggh ! OMG, it's hideous ! Just imagine if this was the color I
*wanted* !
It's actually not quite this dark, but pretty darn close. I can see a few
hundred spots I missed, but I nearly expended the whole can. I remarked that now I could hardly wait to paint the inside,
but Beloved thought I might have to wait a few days to let the Fusion cure a bit, before topping it off with non-Fusion paint.
Awww ! Seeing it this dark and ugly makes me wanna paint over it *right now* !
He then suggested that I spray the can lid with the primer. That way, it'd
dry as the castle did, and I could test it with the new color without risking the castle. Isn't he a genius ?!
You may wonder why I didn't tape up the white pillars on the ground floor.
I decided that I'm going to paint those with the textured stuff I used on the front. Since I'll have to buy a new can of the
exterior paint anyway - I found more touch-ups I need to do - it works out fine. Plus, I forgot to.
So that's where things stand now. I may give it tomorrow, then test it Friday morning, see if I can apply
the beige. That grey is seriously freaking me out ! It's supposed to be a castle, not a dungeon !
Costs so far : $30.05
Previous work - $27.47
Regular beige spray paint - $2.58
Sunday, October 14 - Day Six
Took a few days off the project - in part because Beloved Hubby suggested
I let the Fusion get a good start before I coated it in regular spray paint. Mostly because I was kind of getting tired of
painting ! But today, I was ready to begin again.
I'd tested the cap we sprayed on Day Five with the new paint on Friday.
It dried a bit tacky, but seemed OK the next day. So I picked up the can and went after it, remembering 'light coats' and
'distance' as best I could.
And it seemed to go pretty well. I was getting a decent coat, and it looked much better than that awful
battleship gray ! I think I got a little too enthusisastic, because, when I looked back over it I saw...
Crackling ! Well, shoot. Beloved thinks it's because maybe the thinners between
the two paints didn't mix well, but I think it's because I applied it too thickly. This is the worst spot, there's one
other, but the rest isn't crackled at all.
Y'know what ? I'm gonna leave it that way. It's a castle - if it was like
the ones I saw in Belgium and central Europe, it's doing well to have all its walls intact. Some minor eroding of a few stone
walls isn't too bad.
I'm gonna let it dry for at least three more days before going after another coat. I'm kinda nervous about
doing it any earlier. I wanted to give the whole thing another spray, but decided against it.
Ironically, this photo shows the color the best !
Tuesday, October 23 - Day Seven
Well, as you can guess, I'm about ready to be done with this already ! But
I wanted to give the paint already applied the longest time possible to dry.
For all the good *that* did. I selected a paler paint for the bottom - yer
basic cheapie stuff - thinking that the bottom 'floor' needed a brighter color, since it's heavily shadowed by the top
floor. And I proceeded to muck that all to heck. More crackling, some drips, and it all in all looked like (*&^.
So I consulted an expert - Beloved Hubby. He told me that spray cans are
extremely hard to control, so there's no wonder I'm having so many problems. He advised that we kind of start over. So, we
did the floors. This is the textured Fusion. It even has a few tiny metallic flakes in it. It's a dark green, and quite pretty.
You can see how the bottom floor looks lighter. Too bad it's a total crap job of painting ! But soon, that
won't matter much. We're gonna repaint the walls - which scares me, but since I was about two centimeters from ditching the
whole project, it's worth a shot - by hand. With brushes. I bet it'll take numerous coats to cover that dark green, which
is why I planned on doing it last. Beloved says it won't be too bad, and at least this way I'll have some control over where
the paint goes.
Plus, he's the paint expert - so I'm gonna take his advice. That way, if it really does go as badly as I
fear, I'll have someone else to blame !
Here's a detail of the floor paint. It's actually rather darker than this ! Been wondering about that hole
and the thumb wheel ? There was a bed that covers the hole, but when ya buy second-hand, some stuff often isn't included. With
the bed up, or removed, or whatever, there's that odd hole in the floor. Seat the included doll stand in the hole, and
push the thumb wheel, and the doll spins around. The same stand holds a doll on the staircase, too. Lots of spinning
in this castle.
Not sure what's next. Beloved's got a list of paint and stuff I'll need next, so I guess we'll find out
together !
Costs so far : $32.63
Previous work - $30.05
Regular off-white spray paint - $2.58
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