A while back Tom's mom gave me an old outdoor ceiling fan. (HI TOM!!!! HI SANDY!!!!) She took it down and stored it before she ripped out her old patio. The new patio didn't have a space for a fan so it just sat in their basement. I'm not really sure how I ended up getting it, but somehow I did.
It sat in various places under my carport until a few weeks ago when Libby came over to do crafty things. (HI LIBBY!!!!) A sudden hailstorm stranded us under the carport in craft mode so we made do with what we had. We flipped the fan over and took off all it's light fixtures. We plugged the sockets with paper towels so we wouldn't get paint in them. Then we spray painted the thing with Rustoleum Hammered Metallic Black spray paint until the can went empty. We may or may not have cleaned it first.
And, since this was a completely impromptu craft, I don't have a picture of the fan before we started spraying. It was brown though. The blades were woodgrain with a wicker/lattice inlay and the fan body was brass. You know, early to mid 1990's ceiling fan, brown. Apparently I got crazy carried away because I don't have a picture of it after I painted it either. I just left it there and was glad that I finally did something to it. Even if all I did was randomly spray paint it black, I did SOMETHING to it!
A few days later I stumbled upon this fantastical stuff.
Yeah, I'm color shifting paint and my name is Galaxy, I know I'm cool.
Oh, ummmmm, yeah...so I HAD to have it.
How much is it? $15. Ouch. I had to do some quick rationalising. My basic rule is: "I must have two completely independent legitimate reasons to buy something from a home improvement or craft store". Typically paint is excluded from this because, really how many times can one person use cotton candy pink paint? I decided to invoke this rule anyway and give it one reason just because it is paint and paint is damn useful.
Ok, reason number 2...
It's really cool!?
No! Crap, that can't be a reason.
I could...paint...a...table!!!
YES! I definitely need a color changing table!
Hmm, that didn't actually sound very cool when I said it out loud.
Let's read the instructions, that'll help.
Shake thoroughly, blah, blah, for use over black.
What? That's stupid! Who just has random black stuff hanging around their house...
Ohhhhhhh, I could paint that fan.....O,O
Reason #1: it's paint, and paint is damn useful. Reason #2: I can paint that fan with it. Purchase rationalised.
I went straight home and painted the fan. And by "straight home" I mean I left my van running with the kids in it still strapped into their carseats watching The Princess Bride. It was conveniently still in the exact same spot it was in when I painted it the first time.
Once it dried I hung it up!
Ok, I tried for three hours to do it by myself then gave up and called my electrician. He hung it up for me. Thanks Marvin!
It was looking pretty cool so far.
I didn't want to put the original glass shades back on it because, well, they were brown. I looked around a bit before I decided that I probably wasn't going to find exactly what I wanted and should just make my own.
I've used some glass paints before and didn't really like them. I decided to give them another shot but use a different brand. I went with DecoArt Crystal Gloss Enamel Transparent Glass Paint. I had seen a few other bloggers use them and their projects came out nicely. Anyway, I just squirted the paint on the glass shades and used a cheap sponge brush to spread it out.
They're still wet in that pic, so they look kind of gooey.
The instructions say to let them dry for 48 hours then bake them at 200F to set the paint.
Yeah. This is what they look like on the lamp!!
I think I'll eventually wash off the blue and repaint them purple. Then paint the ceiling turquoise. Yes? No? Ok, probably not turquoise.
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