Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

Today’s project for Nefarious and I was to paint her bike, something we’d actually planned to do last year if I remember right. First we sprayed all the bolts with WD-40, as well as the wheels which were completely covered in rust. Then we disassembled the bike completely, right down to the frame, and used masking take to cover anything we didn’t want to paint. As for the wheels, once the oil had broken down the rust, it was surprisingly easy for us to use the Dremel and a wire brush to get it almost all off. Then we sanded the bike, used the compressor to blow off the dust, and took it outside where we primed it and then she painted the whole thing with a collection of different spray paints.

After she was finished with her inspiration, I gave it a layer of automotive clearcoat, and then we reassembled it and she rode it to her gym class, which has been less and less exhausting every time, so I take that as a good sign that my project to restore any health and fitness that’s been lost over the schoolyear over the summer is going well. Also today we went and visited one of the camps she’s going to later this summer, a drama camp, which looks like it’s going to be a ton of fun.

Also in the Maker world, Caitlin has been creating some really amazing hats. She even made one for me out of the fabric that I made from all my paintings, so now I have a totally over-the-top bright and silly hat to keep the sun out of my eyes this summer! If you want one (be it in this pattern or something else), I think she’s going to have a shop of her own soon enough.

Finally, Nefarious drew a rotoscoped cartoon of me based on one of those pictures and enjoyed the process so much that she asked me to install new drawing software on her laptop, which of course I am more than happy to encourage and do.

Other than that, people seem to be enjoying my mod sharing on Facebook, although Facebook’s censorship (or I should say, automated attempts to only show people the posts that their robots think they’ll like) is driving me a bit batty at times. So I think I’ll quickly go do that, then it’s off to bed. Holy moly is it draining going back to being a full-time dad, even with Caitlin’s help, without school or summer camp to help take a load off. Really drives home how much sicker I am now than a year ago. Nonetheless, I do love it!