Since I am painting walls...

I am painting the interior of the home we moved out of 28 months ago, preparing it for sale.  

I simply cannot help but think about the similarities of paint walls and painting dolls so I am going to share again the post that I wrote on the subject about 27 months ago (the words here are as they were written 27 months ago):

Painting walls is like painting dolls...

How did a whole week go by without me posting?

Oh...because it was a busy and exciting week, plus, husband took the week off!

We got a lot done, including finishing the shelter that was built for the horses, preping the back yard for the dolly house, a huge Thanksgiving feast for the family and...

I painted.

Walls, not dolls.

But there are a lot of similarities.  

Enamel wall paint is in the class of "Air Dry Paints".

It is not baked nor is a heat gun used on it.  It just dries with the air.

And the characteristics are the same.

I had placed a layer of primer on the wall I was painting.  It was mid-day when I put the paint brush down.  

The next day I came back to add another layer of primer (I was covering up very red paint).

My little roller brush end caught the edge of the opposing wall and scratched the paint off.

WHAT?!?!?!?   But I painted it YESTERDAY!!!!!

Was I really shocked?  No.  Although the first layer of primer was dry to the touch and I could add more paint, it still was not CURED.

I have the project finished now with 2 coats of primer, a coat of paint over all and some detail work on one small section of the area.  

I bet I could scratch any of it off today...and tomorrow...and maybe up to a full week or more.

But once this paint has had time to fully cure I bet I can only get it off with something like the edge of a screwdriver (which would take ANY paint off of ANYTHING), but certainly not a scratch of my nails or even the end of the paint roller brush.  

This is true of doll painted with Air Dry Paints. 

ANY Air Dry Paints.  

The paints MUST have time to cure before artists attempt to scratch the paint off.

I get many emails of "freaked out" artists stating that they checked their dolls paint the next day after painting and could get the paint off.

Yes, you can.  Wait.  Be Patient.  Give it Time to Cure.  Breathe.