Antique Fishing Bobbers Pg 1

- Page 1 -

I like buy old, beat up bobbers and restore and repaint them. I use plastic model filler to fill the holes and sand them to the right contour. Then I put on six to eight primer coats, sanding between coats, to smooth out any small defects. After the primer is perfectly smooth I put on one or two top coats then the rings or hand decoration.
I use oil based paint with some varnish mixed in to get a high gloss for both the primer and the top coats. I use artists brushes to paint everything. Nothing is done with an airbrush. The rings are painted on using a drill press mounted horizontally to spin the bobber. I tried a lathe but it spins too fast. I make stencils to draw on the other stuff, like the stars, then I hand paint them on.

Here's a "before and after" picture of one I did in an old unique pattern. This is a big sucker, nearly 18 inches tall.

Patriotic Colors
Some of my favorites are the ones I paint in the "Stars and Stripes" theme. The vertical stripes and the stars are very hard to paint on the curved surface but the result is worth the effort.

Cork Finishes
Here are some with a cork finish. These are actually antique cork bobbers but the surface you see is painted on.
I fill the holes and hurts on these and put on several coats of primer. Then I paint them a solid sienna color. After the sienna is dry I dab on various shades of tan and brown with a wadded up piece of tissue paper. When it's dry I paint on the rings one color at a time and letting each color dry before the next one is applied.

This is a "before and after" of the very small bobber in the picture above. The before picture actually shows it in process with a big hole on one side filled and sanded.