By: Barbara Spear
It was not going to be a good day! A close encounter with a garage door had caused a noticible crack on the side near the edge. It was that nasty kind of crack that, left unattended, simply grows like an interstate highway -- but many times faster! Well, so much for "other plans," I knew what I had to do.
For the moment, I didn't care too much about aesthetics. My primary concern was structural.
I carefully ground the damaged area down to bare surface, then applied a special fiberglass fill with hardener. I may be nimble fingered at a computer keyboard, but when it comes to artisan crafts like this, I'm all thumbs!
Eventually, I managed to obtain a reasonably smooth surface, with just a few nasty fibres sticking up like cowlicks. I stood at arms length and looked at my work. Not great, but it would do for now.
After the patch dried, I smoothed the surface, carefully following the contours as best I could. I wiped off the dust, then applied thin coat of "ridge filler" stuff. Next came a primer coat. Fortunately, that dried quickly so I could move on to apply the color.
I always manage to put the color on too thick, no matter how hard I try to give it a light "feminine" touch. This time was no exception, but by the third coat, I'd pretty well covered up all my mistakes -- and the patch.
More wait time, then a final top coat.
When the clear protective coat was almost dry, I called my husband to see my handiwork.
He carefully inspected the repair, then shook his head and said, "It looks fine, but I can't believe you just spent the better part of a day repairing a broken fingernail!"
Copyright 1996 Barbara Spear
