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Carousel Zebra restoration from The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, MI

I've sure been keeping busy, yay! Even before I finished the tender tank at The Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI, they asked if I'd be interested in restoring their carousel animals. They said that I'd be asked to restore about two per year, that it was an ongoing job. The first one I got to restore was a zebra. The museum dropped it off at B&B Collision in Royal Oak for me, where I could sand it and paint it and not have to worry about anything. How nice! I love B&B Collision, they are SO good to me! I spent a day sanding off the old chipped and cracked paint, then I started repainting the white stripes. I used a paintbrush to get the blending on the eyes, ears, nose, tail and hooves. Then on the fourth day I did the black stripes. For some reason the black didnt want to lay down cleanly next to the white, even though I'd wiped it with wax and grease remover. I spent a fifth day with a thin striping brush going over the black and white edges to make sure they were straight and clean and pretty. I'm letting it dry for five days more and then I'm going back to use B&B's spray booth to put Spar varnish on it. The museum specifically requested Spar varnish since the zebra is made of wood and shrinks and contracts with the weather; Spar varnish is elastic and won't crack under those conditions as well as standing up to "sticky hot butts" as one museum guy said. Here's a before and after picture, and for more pictures, please visit my website, juliefournier.com

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