More Varnishing

I did another coat on "the Rainstick" today.  It wasn't easy and I made some errors.  My Uncle wasn't with me today, but that is good because I actually did it all myself and learned a lot.  I used to do a little airbrushing when it first became popular in the mid 80's so I kind of know my way around the tools a little bit, but an airbrush and a paint gun are  like comparing a die and a Rubiks Cube in complexity.  I've used rattle cans about a million times and am really good at that so in an hour when the mist settles I will go see what havoc I have wrought to my "Rainstick". 

I first got the varnish ready with my mixing, heating and placing in the gun.  I learned some tricks here and there and if you are interested in learning spray varnishing send me a note, there are lots of little tidbits to it.  The most important:  SAFETY GEAR!  If you notice in the next pic I'm not wearing gloves, that is because I was taking a picture with my phone, my camera battery died.  I had intended on a pic in full gear.  All this gear is totally essential because the job is NASTY even with low VOC varnish like I was using.

My first mistake was very silly.  I had sprayed my first pass with the gun over top the board (very novice-like) and the lid wasn't sealed all the way leaving drips along my path on the board!  I wiped them as best I could, but in the meantime all the extra moving around may have kicked up dust.  We will see.  I feel that I did a half decent job for going blind once my goggles were misted up with varnish!  I don't want to look at it yet as there is still a fog in there and it sticks to my glasses lenses and is really tough to remove.

Have a great day!