Oooh, it's nasty hot but the bikes are COOL!

Wow, it's 96 degrees and HUMID. I've been in the paint booth all day and I know that I can confide in y'all not to spread this around, but I've got a serious case of frothy arse.

I finally had to call it quits around 4 o'clock, I kept dripping sweat tenuously close to the paint and decided it is just too hot and uncomfortable to do much else without having some unfortunate errors.

When the temp gets like this, you have to change up the reducers and activators used in the paint to accommodate for the environmental changes. Moreover, you have to really be in touch with how the paint is laying down and flashing out and change your speed, distance, and amount to compensate. Painting really has a steep learning curve and can be extremely frustrating for beginners...but it sure is a whole lot of darn fun!

Speaking of fun, I was talking to Chris on the phone just now and he mentioned my ever present sandals and ugly toes. Now, ugly is an opinion...below is a shot of my toes recently painted up by my daughters 4th grade class in a shimmering gold glitter with pink polka dots as part of their entrepreneur fair.

They are styling, no?


Today I worked through John's custom painted Luv to match his stars and stripes Kona...came out ok, there are a few blurry edges up close from the masks lifting due to the humidity, but looks good from a foot away...

I also threw down some more clear on First Flights Bruiser...a super classic early 80's mountain bike, 1 of only 50 made. The Specialized fork got a special treatment you'll see in the next pics...

Here, I'm sanding the clear getting ready for the next coat. One leg done, one to go...

The metallic brown color really surprised me. I anticipated being underwhelmed, but out in the sun she really takes off. You, alas, only get to see it in the paint booth, where the color fails to spark the imagination.

and a shot of the stainless crown that I masked off. I would have liked to show more, but the brazing was all over the place, and this is the most I could mask without it looking poorly. It has to be finished polished yet and then she'll really sparkle :)

Going to go clean up the weld area spic and span so I can finish welding up the balance of the Ti Luvs. If you are really good, I'll post pics tomorrow ;)

cheers,

rody