DIY Disasters

I was checking out what Sherry was up to at Young House Love and I empathized for her loss. 

Ouch!

This is the story of my failure to protect my porcelain friend.

I've been searching for a gnome way before that movie came out.  It took me a while but I found him at Dandelion Kids on Commercial Drive (who by the way, are wonderful people in a lovely store). 

Dandelion Kids

It turns out, the lamp that I bought is actually quite popular but Dandelion Kids had the best price (and dare I say, service?):

Even though he's a handsome bloke he wouldn't have been able to compete with the green vases on my console table so I thought I'd give him a little make over.  I learned two valuable lessons:

1. You can't use regular spray paint on porcelain.  It takes forever to dry and the paint did weird things.  What I should have done is this:
• To promote adhesion, you'll have to get some sandpaper and rough up the surface that you want to paint.
• Use primer to prepare the area.
• Use acrylic spray paint
• Finish the painted surface with some epoxy spray to lock in the color.
2. Be patient - because if you're not patient, you end up dropping your homeboy like humpty dumpty.  

So, yes - I dropped him.  I dropped him right on his head.  I screamed.  I cursed.  I panicked a bit.  I rushed to grab the gorilla glue but it took forever to put him together because of gravity.

This is what my gnome-boy (ha, I'm so witty) looks like:

Looks can be deceiving

But when I turn on the lights, he's just the creepiest and saddest little guy:

Be good to your porcelain friends.  They just want to be loved.