bowling ball garden bees painting

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After the bowling balls were primed and dry, I started painting them yellow. You will need at least two coats. I had them sitting on the plastic and painted the top sides, waited for that to dry, then flipped them over and painted the other side. It would have been easier if I had propped each bowling ball on a small coffee can from the beginning, instead of crawling around the floor to paint them evenly.

While waiting for the paint to dry, I got started on the antenna by bending each of the 8.5″ lengths of wire slightly. I painted the wooden beads black with the exterior paint. After the paint dried, I put adhesive into one side of the bead hole and pushed the wire into it. After the adhesive dried, they needed a little bit of touch up paint.

Once the bowling balls were perfectly yellow and dried, it was time to lay out the pattern of the black bands. The Birds & Blooms article suggested using blue painters tape to lay out the curves, but I found that to be too frustrating. I got some black charcoal and used a freehand drawing method to get the lines on there. I was able to wipe off the charcoal with a damp cloth if I messed up, and redo it until I got nice curves. I also created wider bands and less of them than the Birds & Blooms example.

Once the curves were drawn, it was time to paint using the black exterior paint. This also required a couple of coats. When everything dried, I was able to wipe off the black charcoal residue with a damp cloth.

And the painting portion of this project is done! Next up, the wings.

Related posts:

1. bowling ball garden bees finished
2. bowling ball garden bees
3. bowling ball garden bees wings
4. painting the tall stairway
5. painting the guest bedroom

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 9:25 am and is filed under garden, photos.