Re: We are helmet painting failures

[Guest guest]

Ken

That really stinks! Sorry to hear about this, I bet you & Anja are

so bummed about this. The important thing of course is for the band

to work & round Zack's head, cover the band up with some N.E. Patriot

stickers & it'll look just fine!

Debbie Abby's mom DOCGrad

MI

> Grrrrr..

>

> All I wanted to do was have a nice helmet for my little boy. Well

> after $70 is painting supplies we have called it quits. We have

> tried everything suggested on this board and elsewhere to no

avail.

> Paint will not stick to the helmet. Our latest attempt involved

> lightly sanding the helmet, painting 3 coats of water-based craft

> paint, applying stickers..then applying a water-based polyurethane

> top coat, which took off all 3 coats of paint. Now we have a

> scratched up extremely dingy looking helmet. I think we would have

> been much better off not even trying. It didn't look half bad in

> institutional white. I have a feeling my insurance company isn't

> going to pay for a second helmet, so I guess we're stuck with it.

>

> At least he doesn't seem to care what it looks like.

>

> Ken

> Zack and Zoey's dad

[Guest guest]

ken, my husband and I spray painted our sons helmet, then we use rub

on decals. They seem to wrok the best. Best of luck. Heidi, mom to

Jeffry, mn

> Grrrrr..

>

> All I wanted to do was have a nice helmet for my little boy. Well

> after $70 is painting supplies we have called it quits. We have

> tried everything suggested on this board and elsewhere to no

avail.

> Paint will not stick to the helmet. Our latest attempt involved

> lightly sanding the helmet, painting 3 coats of water-based craft

> paint, applying stickers..then applying a water-based polyurethane

> top coat, which took off all 3 coats of paint. Now we have a

> scratched up extremely dingy looking helmet. I think we would have

> been much better off not even trying. It didn't look half bad in

> institutional white. I have a feeling my insurance company isn't

> going to pay for a second helmet, so I guess we're stuck with it.

>

> At least he doesn't seem to care what it looks like.

>

> Ken

> Zack and Zoey's dad

[Guest guest]

Whoa Nellie!! $70?!?!? What kind of painting supplies are you

using? I always used those $1 bottles of acrylic paints as a base

coat. Instead of painting it on, I would sponge paint, whenever I

used a paint brush it would leave streaks. I never sanded down the

bands, I was so afraid that I was going to mess up! I've used both

rub on transfers and stickers, then covered that with TONS of acrylic

varnish. Originally I had used a spray on acrylic sealer, but all of

the rub on transfers shrunk up like shrinky dinks. I'm drawing a

blank on the name of the varnish I used, I think its Ann Mills (but

don't hold me to it...it has a hummingbird on the bottle) It came in

a decoupage set, with scissors, decoupage sealer and the acrylic

varnish. That held up the best for me, but I was still touching up

the paint every so often. I later switched to mod podge, because I

ran out of the other varnish and I knew so many here were using it.

I was probably doing someting wrong, but whenever I cleaned the

helmets, the mod podge got incredibly sticky.

Or instead of painting, just put stickers on the band and cover them

up with clear nail polish. Not much can go wrong there!

Niki

Kaylie & Danny (STAR grads)

Phila., PA

> Grrrrr..

>

> All I wanted to do was have a nice helmet for my little boy. Well

> after $70 is painting supplies we have called it quits. We have

> tried everything suggested on this board and elsewhere to no

avail.

> Paint will not stick to the helmet. Our latest attempt involved

> lightly sanding the helmet, painting 3 coats of water-based craft

> paint, applying stickers..then applying a water-based polyurethane

> top coat, which took off all 3 coats of paint. Now we have a

> scratched up extremely dingy looking helmet. I think we would have

> been much better off not even trying. It didn't look half bad in

> institutional white. I have a feeling my insurance company isn't

> going to pay for a second helmet, so I guess we're stuck with it.

>

> At least he doesn't seem to care what it looks like.

>

> Ken

> Zack and Zoey's dad

[Guest guest]

Gosh, sorry you've had so much troubles. What type of waterbased

craft paint did you use? I've used acrylic craft paint (not the

spray-on type) with no problems. I applied it with a sponge

applicator (several coats) and then put water-based polyurethane over

it. The only thing I can think may have gone wrong for you is that

the acrylic craft paint needs to be totally dry between coats and

before putting the top coat on. I applied it in 15 minute intervals

during the band off adjustment periods and then the final coat during

her nightly bath. (Yes she did ding it up a bit during the drying

periods, but I was able to patch it up with the next coat.) Then the

next day I put on the stickers and another coat of polyurethane.

I've never spent more then a dollar per paint bottle, and the cheaper

69 cents stuff seems to work just as well as the 99 cents stuff. I

can't imagine that I spent more then $5 total on supplies for

decorating her band.

I used spray paint on my daughter's first band and would not do that

again. It needed too much time (like 12-24) hours for the odor to

dissipate. Too long to have the band off during the early / most

effective time of treatment.

BTW, if you really don't like the look of the plain sanded band, you

should be able to just put a coat of the water-based polyurethane

over it to 'shine it up'. You can also put sticker or rub-ons on the

plain white band and then polyurethane over it as well.

-

> Grrrrr..

>

> All I wanted to do was have a nice helmet for my little boy. Well

> after $70 is painting supplies we have called it quits. We have

> tried everything suggested on this board and elsewhere to no

avail.

> Paint will not stick to the helmet. Our latest attempt involved

> lightly sanding the helmet, painting 3 coats of water-based craft

> paint, applying stickers..then applying a water-based polyurethane

> top coat, which took off all 3 coats of paint. Now we have a

> scratched up extremely dingy looking helmet. I think we would have

> been much better off not even trying. It didn't look half bad in

> institutional white. I have a feeling my insurance company isn't

> going to pay for a second helmet, so I guess we're stuck with it.

>

> At least he doesn't seem to care what it looks like.

>

> Ken

> Zack and Zoey's dad