How to finish a class, or a design project , in three hours!

 The day after a painting class you probably won't remember how many times the blow drier's popped the breaker... or if the air conditioner didn't work, or how much you wanted a glass of water after three hours of stretching tape and squinting to see pencil lines...   But when it's happening it gets frustrating.

Like many people say, half way through a bad round of golf..., "This is a stupid game!"

Let's look ahead to this weekend and the Barn Quilt painting class you just registered for.  It can go a lot smoother if you keep a few things in mind.

A) Arrive on time!  10:00 AM does not mean "whenever I get there."  We usually have 12 people in class,  so being 10 (... 30?!) minutes late means the instructions need to spoken again and again.  Then someone wonders why 2 hours ends at 12:30 instead of noon.

B) Read the advance instructions in advance!  I send out the suggestions in advance to give you a chance to anticipate what you are going to be doing.  There are some real simple things that can safe you a lot ot time and trouble.  (See "Jeff's Tips!")

C) STRETCH the paint!  Paint in THIN layers!!  Varnish starts to dry in 8 seconds!  Don't go back and touch it up!  It's like stepping in bubblegum.  Things only get worse.  Put down one nice LONG brush stroke and wait until the second (or 3rd) coat to hit the thin spots.  Thinner is better!  A thin coat can be dry in 30 seconds, but a THICK coat can take 5 minutes.  When you are doing 4 coats of 5 colors that's 90 minutes that you could save.

D)  Guide line to live by,"From 50 feet and 35 miles/hour no one will see that you left a fingerprint in the yellow paint."  They won't even see that there is red where there should have been blue.  If you can see a blemish... back up 6 feet.


E) Global Reset!?  You start with a white panel.  Paint is cheap.  If you totally mess up, just paint it all white and start fresh!  If only life were that easy.

F)  Have fun!  Share with friends!  Let's laugh about it later... (wine and art go well together...)




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