7ft Jack-in-the-Box Static Prop

Step 4 Panels - Decorative Painting

Materials Used:
2 cans Gold spray saint
1" Painters Tape
1 quart Purple paint
1 quart Turquoise paint

As the primer on the panels dried, I did some research to determine how the box should be painted. To get some ideas I used Google's Image search on "Jack in a Box" and "Jack in the Box". I found a couple that were French inspired, with a diamond pattern that I liked. I have always enjoyed the Purples, Golds, and Turquoises used in Mardi Gras, so I decided to go with that color scheme. To see how it looked before painting the entire box, I drew it out and colored it in using colored pencils. At the time I was going to put a Fleur de Lys in each corner, so I drew one in. I was unable to find a relief Fleur de Lys that was the correct size, so instead used the skulls, which in the end probably turned out better.

With the paint layout designed, I went to work. You don't need to paint the bottom panel, I left mine, primer gray. The first step was to paint the base coat, which is gold. I painted the entire panel gold to ensure a nice smooth finish. I put on 2 coats of gold spray paint. After the gold paint had dried a couple of days I began taping the diamonds. I first taped the outside border, which is 2 inches from the edge of the panel, this area will be covered by the trim that will be added later. I then divided the panel into four rows and eight columns, then taped out the diamonds.

Once the diamonds were taped out, using 220 sandpaper I lighted sanded the exposed gold paint. You will be painting this area purple or turquoise, so lightly roughing the gold paint with sand paper will help the top layers adhere a bit better. Using my drawing as a guide, the top, middle, and bottom diamonds were painted turquoise, and the two full diamond rows were painted purple. Depending on the paint you have it may take multiple coats to cover the gold completely. The turquoise paint I had only required two coats, while the purple needed four. After the final purple coat had dried enough that it was no longer tacky, the painters tape was removed, and the gold border between the diamonds was exposed.

The final panel step was the application of poly clear coat to protect and finish the paint. I put on three coats to give it a nice shine and lightly sanded using 220 grit sand paper between coats, do not sand the final coat.