Restore Along Part 26: Time to Paint

Welcome back to the Restore Along of Tulip! Previously, we followed along with Julia as she prepared for the task of painting Tulip by practicing on Jill, a Featherweight donated for this purpose by a member of the Featherweight community! So far, Julia has applied two coats of primer to Jill. If you are joining in, you can catch up on last week here:

Previous Post: Restore Along Part 25

Today, Julia starts with some touch-ups to Jill, including a little more paint mask and liquid latex where needed. 

Julia also planned to wrap some painter’s tape around the silicone plug in the needle bar bushing hole so it will sit higher. Julia finds if she doesn’t push it in as hard, it sits where she wants it to without the need for any tape.

Next, Julia looks over the three paint canisters she ordered, which have arrived on schedule. Having a separate canister for each of the two red paints will make it much easier to swap paint and apply the second layer while the first is still wet, a requirement for a proper soul red paint job.

Jill is ready to go and will need only a quick wipe down with a tack cloth before the next layer of paint. Still, Julia wants Tech Support to show her how to use the new spray gun before starting in on that layer, so she is patiently waiting for her turn in his work queue, right after cleaning out the garden and laying down the new kitchen floor tiles. This might take a bit!

Well, there is always more to do in the meantime. Julia puts Jill aside for now and gets to work cleaning Tulip’s foot controller and spool pin, first with dish soap, then with rubbing alcohol.

The Bakelite foot controller looks mottled on the outside, but the inside is solid black; more extensive cleaning or polishing may be in order.

Julia coats most of the metal foot controller parts with sewing machine oil before reassembly. 

Tulip will need new wiring on most, if not all electric parts, so Julia doesn’t wash the fiber insulators. She makes sure to save the Bakelite socket and plug from the old cord (even though she isn’t sure the oval plug is original), and she will replace the old cord with a new one she already has stashed away.

That will do it for today’s work. What will the next session hold? Will there be paint, or will Tulip get a new set of electrical parts? Find out next time!

Next: Restore Along Part 27