How to trick out a fiberglass animal for a public art project?
March 24, 2015 11:34 AM   Subscribe

Our community, like many, will feature fiberglass animals this summer (a la the Chicago cows). I need to decorate a fiberglass fish such that it resembles a classic carousel animal. That entails sanding, painting, shaping the tack, adhering separately molded pieces, and finishing the whole shebang so it can be displayed outdoors. I'm crafty, but I've never done anything like this before... so I have questions. Calling car restorers, boaters, prop-makers, and others skilled in the dark art of fiberglass fabrication!

Any advice about materials or technique is welcome! So far, here's what I've got...

1. The fiberglass on the mold is rough and I need to sand it for the finish to be glossy and smooth. Obviously I need gloves, protection from shards and a respirator. Beyond that, must I sand it by hand or can I use a power sander? I can't tell how thick the fiberglass is. Any suggestions about sandpapers?

2. Speaking of the finish, I want a glossy midnight blue that sparkles. I've been looking at paints with "candy" additives or mica-based powders or pearlized additives and think I maybe want to combine them. Any advice? How many coats should I anticipate? And must I spray paint it ? Should I just take the fish to a body shop? Last, with what would you top coat it?

3. I need to fabricate a decorative saddle blanket (e.g., with "tassles") and am open to doing so using fiberglass or Sculpey-esque materials (maybe first covering the fish with plastic wrap so the blanket could be molded exactly). I'll then need to paint it to coordinate with the tack and the metallic filigree (see below) and adhere it (presumably with epoxy resin, I guess). Ideas or advice?

4. However, I have a vinyl saddle and other tack in a good color that's properly scaled. Can I just coat it with epoxy resin and use that to attach it to the blanket?

5. For other decorative flourishes, my plan is to buy flexible resin architectural moldings/decorations, paint them with an antiqued metallic finish and then attach them. Is that reasonable? Is this also a job for epoxy resin or would some other kind of adhesive be better?

6. I may want to add a pole if I can figure out how to align it with the pole supporting the fish on its base (which the project sponsors did not provide). If I use decorated PVC pipe, is there a better option for attaching it other than fabricating a flange and relying on my old pal epoxy resin to avoid fasteners?

What else should I be thinking about? I have about two months to finish this piece, so there's time to order specialized equipment or materials if needed, but you can assume I have everything except a spray paint rig. Thanks, folks!
posted by carmicha to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (6 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
This company makes paints used for those specific sculptures and has a tip sheet at least for prep and application.
posted by cecic at 12:06 PM on March 24, 2015


Sanding glass is horrible. Get a great respirator and a full tyvek suit. Plan on the environment so you can get out of the suit and clean up without breathing any of that stuff. I had a multi year cough from not being careful enough.
posted by sammyo at 6:26 PM on March 24, 2015


Depending on the existing texture you may find it easier to use a glazing putty to fill in the lows instead of sanding down the highs.
posted by Mitheral at 6:27 PM on March 24, 2015


Best answer: Oh hey I made a bear a few years ago. It started out like this but ended up like this and survived the outdoors very well. Some punks pushed him off his stump and he got a busted nose, but even that was an easy fix.

Our sculptures were pre-primed, hopefully that's the case with yours too. I used Magic Sculp which is one of the two-part epoxy putties. I bulked out the larger forms by using 2" thick rigid polystyrene insulation foam panels, cut and sanded to shape. For rounder shapes, the insulation foam can be laminated with Elmer's glue, then shaped like a block of wood. It's dusty work with static-electricity-sticky foam crumbs everywhere, though. I put a skin of epoxy putty over the foam shapes and also directly onto the primed fiberglas. The putty is pleasant to work with, very strong so you don't need a great thickness. You can only use a bit at a time because the working time is a couple hours or so before it gets rigid, but I had no trouble bonding new sculpt to cured sections. The main concern though is it needs to be primed (I used One-Shot but I think auto body primer works as well) and painted, because MS is sensitive to UV.

The epoxy is relatively expensive, so for the back and under legs areas I used Bondo, raked with a fork, for rough furry texture. It smelled terrible but did what I wanted.

I used regular Golden acrylics (they are the best brand!) and I put a UV protection clear coat over the top and I was very generous with it. For protective coatings - if you finish with a bunch of clear coats but you don't want your sculpture shiny, DO use gloss for your multiple coats, and then do a matte coat for the very last one or two. If you do several matte clear coats, your colors will get cloudy and dull, since the matting agents accumulate when you paint more and more over top.

Good luck and have fun! I hope you share photos.
posted by Lou Stuells at 2:32 PM on March 28, 2015


Response by poster: Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the advice and product recommendations. I'm both excited and worried that I won't be able to come close to what I picture (and what my proposal portrayed). It's due in six weeks so if anyone comes across this question, more responses are welcome!
posted by carmicha at 3:00 PM on April 6, 2015


Response by poster: Here's the finished sturgeon... I call her Donatella. I wound up forming the saddle out of Magic Scupt. Thanks again for all your help!
posted by carmicha at 5:46 PM on June 5, 2015


« Older How to pick a wheel chair? [extra challenge: wrist...   |   Vacations for newbies: San Francisco edition Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.