I have a close friend who is moving away soon and is a huge Green Lantern fan. As a going away present I thought it would be cool to paint a Zippo green and engrave the GL symbol on it. I don't have much experience with paints or other craft materials, however, so I'm not sure where to begin. Does anyone have any experience with painting Zippos or other metal objects? I assume spray paint would scratch or chip easily but again I don't have much experience. I plan on taking a trip to the local Hobby Lobby to ask for more advice sometime soon but any opinions I can get here would be greatly appreciated.
check google here is a site that says it does custom engraving http://www.lightersales.com/home.cfm?Page=engraving.htm
I did that and saw that I could order one but think it would be cooler if I made it myself. I googled "paint zippos", "enamel zippos", etc and didn't see any helpful links. Trust me, I did put a little effort into this.
Get some primer on it first, then use acrylics or enamel paint. Acrylics are easier to work with and dry faster. Enamel dries very slowly and is sticky, but comes out looking better in the end. not very good advice, but you can start with that.
That's one thing I'm worried about. Another is making sure the hinge still works well as I paint. Is there any kind of laquer that I could apply that would help the lighter fluid issue?
I wouldn't paint the whole lighter, just the logo... I would get a black lighter and paint a green logo on it. Or get a green zippo etc. But I have no idea of how to paint it.
You can paint it, but it will eventually come off. IIRC, Zippos are stainless steel. And since you can't use primer, then the paint will not stick to it over time. If I were you, I would find a nice Green Latern logo on the net somewhere, pring it on transparent/sticky paper and then cut it out with a pen knife then just stick that on the lighter. It will last much longer than paint will.
Or go to a Fastsigns and have them cut some out of vinyl on a plotter. Get a bunch made so he can replace them if he needs to.
Good idea too! Houston Sign Co. did a 48'' x 18'' vinly logo for me for $25. Something that small would be cheap and would probably look better.
