Repainting The Ever After High Castle–Continued

My how time flies!  Between the holidays and migrating from Blogger to WordPress, I’ve hardly had time to stop and catch my breath!  Thankfully, things are slowing down which means I can get back to the important stuff like doll reviews and craft projects!

So why don’t we take a look at my current (and biggest) project:

Repainting The Ever After High Castle!

Repainting The Ever After High Castle!

I haven’t made as much progress as I would have liked; however, I did manage to finish the spires, the large peak, turrets, and vines.

Spires:

Ever After High Castle Spires Painted Pink

From the start, I knew I wanted the spires to be pink, but these little guys did not want to cooperate!  You see, instead of being hard plastic like the rest of the castle, the spires are soft and bendable.  I didn’t think anything of this though and spray painted them just like I did all the other pieces.  However, once they had dried, I saw that my beautiful pink paint had cracks running through it.

Since the spires are flexible, I believe they were expanding and contracting because of the humidity which caused the paint to crack.  To minimize the crackling, I had to seal the spires then paint them–then seal them again and paint them again.  It took about three coats of sealant and paint (and even then you can still see some crackling) but I eventually succeeded and turned them a lovely shade of pink!

Pink Castle Spires

Large Peak:

Pink Castle Peak

This peak has been one of my favorite pieces to paint!  It has so many little details (such as the banner and Ever After High logo) and really I wanted them to pop.

I used a combination of greys, silver, rose gold, and gold for the shield.  Then the banner I painted white with gold letters.
Repainting The Ever After High Castle
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it or not, but I am using metallic leafing pens for the silver and gold accents.

I tried using metallic paint, but most metallic paints are thin and don’t cover well.  However, these leafing pens give complete opaqueness with just one or two layers of ink.  Just roll the tip of the pen over whatever you want to turn gold, and voila–thick ink flows out giving you shiny finish!  For ultra-tiny areas (like the letters on the banner) you can press some of the ink out by tapping the tip of the pen on a paper plate, then apply the ink using a fine paint brush. 

Seriously, if it wasn’t for these pens, there’s no way I would be able to get these gorgeous gold touches!

Turrets:

All the turrets are painted off-white with gold accents, and one has a raven molded on it!

Castle Turrets

Honestly, when I saw that one of the turrets had a raven molded to it, I wasn’t too thrilled.  How was I supposed to make a raven go with my pink chic theme?  Painting him solid black wasn’t an option.  He ended up looking too gothic which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  I love Ever After High’s medieval vibe!  But the solid black raven just looked scary.  However, colors other than black (such as a light grey) made him look goofy.

So, to get a black yet not black raven, I mixed some silver into my black paint which lightened it (making more charcoal than black) and gave it a shimmery effect.  Then, to finish him off, I gave the raven a grey beak, grey legs, and a white twinkle in his eye.

Raven On Castle Turrett

I think this silvery-black color makes Mr. Raven look more like a friendly passerby and less like Maleficent’s pet!

Poles and Vines:
Finally, we have the poles leading up to spires.  These pieces are solid green and have vines with leaves molded on them.  At first, I only intended to paint the poles, which I did using my handy gold leafing pen.
But, as I stared at the vines I started thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool if the leaves and vines were different shades of green?” And that was that.  Instead of limiting my work to the poles, I found myself repainting the leaves and vines too.
Example of blotchy patches on vines

So far, the only paint I’ve used is acrylic paint and spray paint.  Unfortunately, the green acrylic paint I’m using has a bad habit of leaving behind blotchy patches.

 

So, I decided to give nail polish a try and see if I could get a more even coat.

Repainting Ever After High CastleIt worked!

The nail polish did a great job covering the leaves with one coat!  Now the poles have dark green vines and light green leaves.  Although it was more work, I’m glad I went ahead and repainted the vines instead of leaving them solid green.  I think the contrast adds some interest, don’t you?Castle Vines With Light Green Leaves And Gold Poles

 Well, that’s the progress I’ve made on the castle so far!  Now that things are starting to slow down,  I’m eager to get back to work on this project and make some serious headway!  My goal is to have it finished by the end of the month…hopefully?.

Thanks for reading! If you’re a follower from our previous blog, Paradise Pink Doll Diaries, we are so glad to see you here and hope you like our new look!  And if this is your first time visiting, please feel free to browse our blog (a good place to start is our Start Here page) and be sure to check out our first post featuring this castle: Repainting The Ever After High Castle)

6 Comments

  1. Wow, you have made such a difference to all those pieces. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s all together. Unfortunately for me, spray paint time is on hold until winter is over; the temperatures are too low to be spray painting outside.

    1. Author

      I know what you mean! I have several pieces that are ready to be sealed but am having to wait because of the cold weather❄️.

  2. The castle looks awesome!:) I like the way the raven looks. And I love your new blog. it looks amazing. Also just a quick question, will you have a Blog Button?
    -Quinley

    1. Author

      Thank you! Glad you like how the castle is turning out…and the new blog too. Thanks for asking about the blog button! I have one designed but totally forgot to add it. So yes, there will be a blog button in our side bar here shortly?.

      1. You’re welcome!:) Also will you have a ‘Meet our/my dolls page’? I always love reading about people’s dolls and their doll’s interests and hobbies.
        -Quinley

        1. Author

          I do plan to create a Meet The Dolls page at some point–I just need to get some better pics first.

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