

Reasoning

Now you will need to ensure that the fragile paper background does not rip and that your foreground images do not come apart from the paper, destroying your beautifully decorated lighter. Painting the entire lighter twice with clear semi-gloss ensures that your lighter will be durable—and even water-resistant.



Summary

In this step, you will paint the first coat of semi-gloss, then wait four hours for the lighter to dry. In the next step, you will paint the second coat and wait four more hours for it to dry, equaling a total of 8 hours drying time. When your lighter is completely dry, in 8 hours, it will be finished and usable.



WARNING: The semi-gloss used in this step is flammable, so do not light your lighter until the second coat of semi-gloss is dry (at the end of the next step).



Paint the first coat

Place your newly-glued lighter on a piece of newspaper or other surface you do not care about dirtying. Shake the semi-gloss before using. Then, using the small paintbrush, paint semi-gloss over the entire lighter (see first photo below). I recommend using vertical strokes, painting from top to bottom until you have painted the entire lighter. You may want to hold the lighter by the silver part at the top while you paint. Use enough semi-gloss to saturate the lighter, but not so much that the gloss begins to drip (you will be able to tell when you've used too much semi-gloss, as the gloss will begin to drip down the sides of the lighter as you're painting it. This won't ruin your lighter, it just makes a bit of a mess.)



Leave the lighter to dry

When you are finished painting, stand the lighter up on the newspaper and place it somewhere out-of-reach, so that you do not knock it over.



Wash your paintbrush

Remember to wash your paintbrushno more than 10 minutes after painting. If you do not, the semi-gloss will dry on the bristles, becoming caked and ruining your paintbrush.



Wait 4 hours

Wait 4 hours for the first coat of semi-gloss to dry before proceeding to the next step.





