questions about painting mannequins

[hydin]

I have been puttering around with this idea for months, and thought someone here probably had an idea on what to do.

90% of the mannequins i see listed on ebay (or anywhere) come in 3 flavors. pink/brown/white. sometimes you will get a bitching gloss black color.

my question is, can you REPAINT a mannequin (fiberglass one) from a pink to a white, or a gloss black, without worrying if you are going to ruin the costume you are going to put on it?

i.e. paint rubbing off on costume, costume getting stained by paint, paint wont dry on mannequin.

those are the things i am trying to figure out to see if i can get this resolved.

any tips and tricks are welcome. im sure no one here wants to display a cool costume on a mannequin just to have it either stain the costume and possibly ruin it.

i was thinking something like kilz white as a primer, then regular primer, sand, ultra gloss black, and a sealer for the gloss black. for matte white... probably just the kilz white, then follow that up by working with some acrylic paints in the exposed areas to give it a marble finish.

just bouncing ideas around. if you have any, please lob em up

thanks
chris

 

[dropshipbob]

As with anything you paint, it would be a good idea to test you paint on a spot that's not easily seen, just to see how it reacts.

As for what kind of paint to actually use, I'd go with the Krylon fusion paints. They seem to work well on most any surface, and if you prepped the surface before hand, it should adhere very well and not come off on your costume.

 

[hydin]

cool. i havent played much with the fusion paints. i guess ill have to buy a can or two.

the only parts I am looking to "redo) are the hed and hands. the rest of the mannequin would be covered by a costume. im really worried about having the paint come off on the sleeve cuffs (or worse, the sleeves when i put the costume on), or maybe the neckline of the costume.

primer, sand, paint seems to be the way to go. just hoping someone out there has some experiance with this :lol

chris