Chalk Car (/)

Step One (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-one)

8/30/2015 0 Comments (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-one#comments)

So you want to know how I turned my car into a rolling chalkboard? It was
surprisingly easy to do! If I can do it, then anyone can.

I do not consider myself a "handy" person. Before this, the most involved project I
had ever taken on was building an IKEA bookshelf...which I almost gave up on half-
way through. I have so little car knowledge, I have never even washed my car
myself. With that in mind, this project still only took me a total of 10 hours over the
span of 4 days.

The rst step is to gather your supplies.

1. Plastic Drop Cloth to put under your car to catch any unwanted drips. You can
also cut the cloth into pieces to cover your windows or any parts of the car you
do not want painted. I actually didn't end up using the cloth at all and wound
up with some paint drips on the ground.

2. Greased Lightning Cleaner & Degreaser. Any degreaser will work though.

3. Foam brushes. 1/2 inch and 1 inch.

4. Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint with a black nish. I bought three 30-ounce cans.

5. Large Sanding Tool. This is crucial if you are going to sand your car by hand. You
can also use an electric sander but I didn't trust myself with one. It was really
easy to do by hand with this sandpaper holder.

6. Gloves.

7. Safety Goggles.

8. Painter's Cloth. You'll need this with the degreaser and to wipe off the chalk
after you prime the paint with it.

9. Small Paint Tray. The smaller the better. The chalkboard paint dries quickly so
you don't want to pour too much at a time.

10. Sandpaper. I bought a variety pack with 80 grit, 150 grit, and 220 grit. I used all
three.

11. 4 inch, High Density Foam Roller for Doors and Cabinets. You need to use a
high density foam roller to avoid getting paint lines. A 4" roller may look small
to cover a whole car with, but it's really not. Again, the smaller roller means less
lines.

12. Respirator for sanding.

13. Painter's Tape.

All of the supplies only cost $85 dollars!

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Step Two (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-two)

8/30/2015 0 Comments (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-two#comments)

After you have all of your supplies (see Step One), you need to wash your car with
soap and warm water. You should also take off both license plates.
Ignore the terrible photo quality, and you can see the damage over the front tire,
where I was t-boned. The paint is actually scraped almost from nose to tail. My
poor baby.
Time to get sanding! You NEED to wear safety goggles and a respirator for this
part. It gets very dusty! I started with the 80 grit sandpaper and worked my way up.
The lower the grit on sandpaper, the rougher it is. So, the 80 grit made deepish
scratches all over the paint which helped break up the clear coat sealent. Attach a
strip of sandpaper to your gripper/holder/sandpaper tool. I had to cut my
sandpaper to t. Then, with rm pressure, rub up and down in a small area. Go back
over that area, rubbing side to side. You can even "buff" the surface by sanding in
little circles. The idea is to sand the same spot in many directions.
You do NOT want to sand all the way down to the metal, or you will have to spray a
rust shield to protect the metal. I just sanded away the clear sealent. You can see
how rough the texture is after the 80 grit. This is not ideal for painting over if you
want the nal surface to be smooth. I then went back over the entire car with the
150 grit, and then the 220 grit, to smooth the surface out. Unfortunately, I didn't
take any pictures, showing the smoother nish of the 220 grit sandpaper.

Once the whole car was sanded, I washed the car with plain water to remove any
remaining dust particles, and washed it with the Greased Lightning Cleaner &
Degreaser. This is to remove any oils from the surface before you paint.

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Step Three (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-three)

8/30/2015 1 Comment (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-three#comments)

Now the car is sanded, it is ready to be taped off and painted. I used blue painters
tape to tape over the edges of everything I didn't want to be painted. Make sure
you tape over all key holes!!! Focus on protecting the lights and any glass. When
chalkboard paint is wet, it does come off easily with soapy water, but it's best not to
have to use that trick.

Pour a small amount of paint into your paint tray. I covered my paint tray with a
plastic bag so I could throw the bag away after each coat and not worry about aky
bits of dried paint sticking to my brushes. Make sure your foam roller is completely
coated in paint, but not dripping. I started at the roof of my car, since I had to lean
against the door frame to reach. The key is to paint in a "Y" or "W" formation to
avoid paint lines. Don't push too hard or you will get texture marks from the roller.
Have fun!

Use the foam brushes to get small areas of your car, like the rear view mirrors. They
also came in handy when painting near sections you don't want painted. I felt much
more in control of the foam brush when going over the edges of the painter's tape,
than I did with the roller.
This is after one coat of paint, and as you can see, the original red tint is slightly
visible through the black chalkboard paint. By the second coat, any hint of red was
gone. The paint needs to dry for a minimum of 4 hours in between coats. I decided
to let it sit overnight before my second coat. You should do a minimum of three
coats all over the car. I did a total of three coats (one coat per day for three days)
and only used a little more than two cans of paint. The rst coat took me 3 hours,
the second coat took me 2 hours, and the third coat only took me 1.5 hours. It gets
easier and easier as the paint builds up. On your last coat of paint, make sure you
focus on having as little lines as possible. If you have too much paint on your roller,
and it drips down the car, that drip will be visible when it is dry.

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Step Four (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-four)

8/29/2015 0 Comments (http://chalkcar.weebly.com/how-to-make-a-chalk-car/step-four#comments)

You need to wait a full three days for the paint to cure, before you prime the
surface with chalk. Priming your chalkboard surface is an important step, to ensure
the chalk doesn't scratch the paint.

I rubbed the side of a piece of white chalk all over the car and rubbed it in with my
ngers. You can see that even with going up to the 220 grit sandpaper, my car is still
rather textured. I then used a clean painter's cloth to wipe away as much loose
chalk as I could.

It left my car an almost light gray color. It is now ready to be drawn on!!! You should
NOT wash the car for 4 more days (7 days from the last paint coat). Once the car is
ready to be washed, it will look matte black afterwards, like in the picture below,
rather than the gray color shown in the picture above.

That's it! Those are all the steps to painting your car with
 chalkboard paint. I hope this was helpful for those curious
minds out there.
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Art Car
Step by step instructions on how to paint your car with chalkboard paint.

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