Carlsbad Fire Hydrant Project
A week before Thanksgiving this year (2005), I had the fortune of being
selected by the Carlsbad (CA) Chamber of Commerce and Carlton Lund of
Lund Team Real Estate to paint a fire hydrant on Highway 101 in front of
the famous Ault Carlsbad.
The
project required painting "a castle on a fire hydrant", but turned out to
be much more.
I found out from Carlton that the Carlsbad CC was having a fund
raiser to help beautify downtown Carlsbad and donate part of the
proceeds to family's of Marines injured in the Iraq War. Carlton
paid $500 dollars for this hydrant and also bought another hydrant.
Each day I was working on the project, he'd stop by, pass
along encouraging words and even brought me a great hamburger one day. He's a
helluva man.
Click on thumbnails for larger
pictures
| The Concept
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Here's the concept sketch
|
Step-by-Step: How to Paint a Fire Hydrant
Having never painted a fire hydrant before, Hanlon
searched the internet for any help on the process... nothing was
available.
Here are a few helpful hints for anyone painting a fire
hydrant with oil-based enamel paint.
Prep Work
-
Cover the ground. I used and old round table cloth,
cut out a section of the middle and duct taped in down. A drop cloth
would work fine too
-
Chip off any spots where paint is raising and
separating with a flat razor
-
Use wire wheel on drill driver to smooth rough spots
and wear away old bristles embedded in the paint (guarantee at least
20 bristles per hydrant)
-
Rough sand and finish sand the entire surface
-
Use a degreaser to get off any loose stuff
-
Thoroughly broom sweep the area (and the hydrant)
before painting. Road dust will always be there (and expect to wash
the grit from you hair nightly or your pillow starts making this
scratchy sound)
-
Now you are ready to paint. Note - Be careful not to
to paint the threads where caps screw on and off. Also, pick bright
colors that can be seen at night by the fire department
Painting
-
The oil-based enamel paint we used has the
consistency of thick glue when used straight out the can. I
recommend thinning the paint with paint thinner/mineral spirits. I
found a little linseed oil helps when blending colors.
-
Bring plenty of rags and paper towels plus a mixing
surface that be discarded afterward (this stuff dries like rock). I
found small plastic bowls from the dollar store worked well for
storing the thinned paint and blended colors on a plastic Coffeemate
tops (hey... I'm a low budget operation), Bring plenty of plastic
wrap for wrapping the bowls or else you trunk will look like mine...
though I do like the colors!
Being Creative
-
There are different "flatish" surface
areas on a hydrant that can lend themselves to small vignettes if
you're are painting a landscape... just remember to keep your mind
open and your creativity will flow.
-
Good luck with your project and enjoy the journey.
Mine was one of the best learning experiences and the opportunity to
meet some very interesting people
-
Peace Out!
|
|
Day 1
|
Carlton Lund with Hydrant
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Carlton Lund with Hydrant (Ault Carlsbad in
background)
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End of Day 1 - Prepping the hydrant was pretty time
consuming
|
| Day 2 |
Starting to look like something is developing
|
Hanlon painting under the shade of a tacky umbrella
(worked well until a large truck passed close by at high speed)
|
Ideas starting to develop (once Hanlon gets
started...)
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| Day 3 |
View walking north along 101
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View walking up Christiansen toward 101
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View from 101 South onto Christiansen
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| Final
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Surfer Girl with longboard in silhouette.
Thought the studs at the bottom ring of the hydrant
looked like palm trees (must have been the exhaust fumes)
|
Added a surfer cutting a large wave at the top and
a small sunset scene on the hose cap
|
Red Woodie (seen around town in Carlsbad) cruising past a
cliff-perched mansion with 101 sign
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