Let me say I have been doing some paint testing on gourds,the ones I have are not plastic as some believe but are actually High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and it is very hard to paint,however it is doable. I found out after my tests that a lot of car parts are made from HDPE, the most recognizable is car bumpers .There is a special primer/sealer that is used of which I am trying to find out just what it is.In the interim I tried the following.
I had 4 test patches on 4 different gourds and each area cleaned and prepped with a different prepping agents and each cleaned area was test painted with 4 different paints.
Prepping Agents
1. Acetone
2. Mineral Spirits
3. Lacquer Thinner
4. PVC Solvent Cleaner
I tried the following paints,,,,,
1. Regular fast dry Enamel
2. Plastic Fusion
3. Appliance Epoxy
4. Regular Epoxy Enamel
The Epoxy Enamel worked the best but all applications no matter what were very easily scraped off after 3 hours using just my fingernail.
I will repeat these tests using the same prepping agents with the yet to be found required primer/sealer.
The test results indicated that the above Regular Epoxt Enamel was the best under these conditions when considering one coat application and coverage,runs and ease of applying a recoat.
I will try a Marine Epoxy on my next test as well.
What have you used in painting gourds and did you find the proper primer/sealer and if so can you share the name??
thanks dick
Gourd painting difficulties and how do you do it?
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Guest
I tried that ,didn't work.
Im would have thought for sure someone out there would have tried to paint these HDPE gourds and had an answer.
I have a paint and body shop doing some test paint trys right now (free) . The car bumpers that they successfully paint are polypropylene and not polyethylene so its a crap shoot at the moment,but who knows .I'll stop by this afternoon and see what they may have come up with. It may end up being cost prohibitive.
I also have a query into Sherwin Williams reserch labs for a possible answer and a request into the manufacturer and distributor for same .
dick
Im would have thought for sure someone out there would have tried to paint these HDPE gourds and had an answer.
I have a paint and body shop doing some test paint trys right now (free) . The car bumpers that they successfully paint are polypropylene and not polyethylene so its a crap shoot at the moment,but who knows .I'll stop by this afternoon and see what they may have come up with. It may end up being cost prohibitive.
I also have a query into Sherwin Williams reserch labs for a possible answer and a request into the manufacturer and distributor for same .
dick