Cheap DIY Gloss Alternative

divine` · 14 May 2006 at 22:50

Just had to sand some obscene words off a door, and naturally being students we don't want to pay for proper gloss if we can knock up some concoction of things that will do a similar job.

Any ideas?

edit - for clarification this is just clear gloss, no colour or stain.

Matblack · 14 May 2006 at 22:51

Egg yolk, garlic and sperm in equal quantities will do the trick

MB

LeperousDust · 14 May 2006 at 22:52

Is it possible to get free tester pots of gloss? Might do the trick

I doubt making your own gloss with household ingreadients is going to work though. At least the thought was there you cheap skates.

//Edit: Totally forgot about that Mat, i heard that a while ago actually. GIve it a try first, at least its free.

divine` · 14 May 2006 at 23:11

We've tried sugar water, which seems to be doing ok at the moment, it's drying out and staying pretty much the colour we want it to...

if it fails though we'll give the egg white a try. perhaps not with the sperm in it though.

Matblack · 14 May 2006 at 23:12

divine_madness said:
We've tried sugar water, which seems to be doing ok at the moment, it's drying out and staying pretty much the colour we want it to...

if it fails though we'll give the egg white a try. perhaps not with the sperm in it though.

Won't work without the sperm, doesn't have to be human btw, don't you have a biology research lab at the uni?

MB

divine` · 14 May 2006 at 23:19

Possibly, although being an Engineer, I have no idea where or how I would get access to it.

If not, the tester pot of gloss sounds like a plan and a half to me

Nix · 14 May 2006 at 23:21

divine_madness said:
Possibly, although being an Engineer, I have no idea where or how I would get access to it.

If not, the tester pot of gloss sounds like a plan and a half to me

Is this a form of revenge related to a certain duvet theif?

divine` · 14 May 2006 at 23:25

Nix said:
Is this a form of revenge related to a certain duvet theif?

No, this is someone else entirely, and it wasn't my door.

I sanded it off because they got told it needed replacing and they were going to be charged £300 for the privelidge.

Duvet theivery is all smoothed over.

VIRII · 15 May 2006 at 00:02

Dulux 750ml brilliant white gloss £4.98 at B&Q.

So cheap even a student can afford it.
It is solvent based though so they might not sell it to you

Mr Joshua · 15 May 2006 at 00:05

Have a look for Johnsons Klear in a supermarket, it's a polish for wood flooring but loads of people use it for model making since it's very hard wearing.
I think it's only a couple of quid too.

Chasser · 15 May 2006 at 01:09

Matblack said:
Egg yolk, garlic and sperm in equal quantities will do the trick

MB

Genius

singist · 15 May 2006 at 08:42

divine_madness said:
Just had to sand some obscene words off a door, and naturally being students we don't want to pay for proper gloss if we can knock up some concoction of things that will do a similar job.

Any ideas?

edit - for clarification this is just clear gloss, no colour or stain.

From the edit, you mean varnish not gloss paint; should be easy enough to find a small cheap pot in Wilko.

saitrix · 15 May 2006 at 08:44

VIRII said:
Dulux 750ml brilliant white gloss £4.98 at B&Q.

So cheap even a student can afford it.
It is solvent based though so they might not sell it to you

Pfft thats expencive. Try 10 litres for £10.99. Wickes trade paint.

kaiowas · 15 May 2006 at 08:59

saitrix said:
Pfft thats expencive. Try 10 litres for £10.99. Wickes trade paint.

But they don't need 10 litres. Therefore your solution is more expensive.

Matt-Page · 15 May 2006 at 08:59

Get hold of some PVA glue. Your local Uni or school will donate some im sure.

Mix it with water, and paint it on.

VIRII · 15 May 2006 at 09:03

saitrix said:
Pfft thats expencive. Try 10 litres for £10.99. Wickes trade paint.

That is more cash though.....

Hate wickes gloss too, I tried their primer/gloss all in one....grrr.....it was still soft and unsandable 10 days later, scraped it all off and went with traditional primer and gloss as seperate paints......maybe I did not mix the all in one stuff well enough, not sure.

phykell · 15 May 2006 at 09:06

If you can borrow an airbrush, use that for better coverage If you buy a water-based acrylic, you can use water as a thinner

saitrix · 15 May 2006 at 09:21

kaiowas said:
But they don't need 10 litres. Therefore your solution is more expensive.

He can be creative, think of ways of using the spare 9.5 litres.

divine` · 15 May 2006 at 12:00

saitrix said:
He can be creative, think of ways of using the spare 9.5 litres.

You really shouldn't put ideas like that in a mind like mine

Not been downstairs to check on the door yet, will report back on the state of it later

divine` · 15 May 2006 at 12:22

University contractors came round at 10am apparantly, were confused as to why the door needed replacing, Jimbo explained that we'd fixed it, head warden came to look, was convinced we had varnished it. :eek:

So hopefully we've got away with that!