Refurb of Taylor’s Shovel Bird Complete

This poor shovel bird was desperately in need of some attention after standing out in the Taylor’s yard for several years. I wish we could figure out a way to combat the effects of sun and weather better, but so far, we haven’t.

His refurbishment started with pulling off the remaining google eye. I wiped him down to get excess debris off and then gave him a scrubby bath – first with Simple Green, then with soap and water, and finally with “Pre” a spray-on degreaser that makes paint adhere to metal better. I put fresh primer paint on the spots that had rusted, then repainted the mail colors.

I used a metallic pen to do his ‘feathers.’  When the painting was dry, I sprayed him with polyurethane to protect the new paint as much as possible.

The last step was gluing on new googly eyes. I used Liquid Nails as a glue, then held them tight with clothes pins and heavy rubber bands until completely dry.

We’ll take him to the Taylors this Monday evening, when we pick them up to go bowling!