First I ordered the goggles from a welding supply company. I'm sure if I had researched my area a bit more I may have found them to b
I decided not to sand them down, partly because I felt like touching them up as they chipped was going to add to the rougher nature of the explorer I wa
s going for. However, so far they have not chipped at all! I also really liked the little lightning bolts on the sides and didn't want to loose those.
So I disassembled them, and spray painted them completely black with Krylon Short Cuts in Flat Black.
Then I took a dry fan shaped brush and dry brushed (see next paragraph) metallic pai
nt over the black, you can paint over as much or as li
ttle as you want to get different effects as well as using different
colors. More paint, means a more solid metal looking surface, where as less paint makes the item look more worn and older. You can also experiment with different metallic paints. I was tempted to go all the way with this set and use peacoc
k metallic colors to go with the costume, however as I do not have all the money in the world these goggles are going to have to go with many outfits!
As for how to “dry brush” if you have not before, all you have to do is put a little bit of paint on the brush, then get the excess off by brushing on a piece of paper until there is barely any paint on the brush. Then you paint on the object you intend to paint. It comes across as brushed metal, and can be m
ade to look more like a smooth surface by multiple coats. For the main parts of my goggles I used FolkArt brand's #663 Metallic Solid Bronze, and for the rims I used #660 Metallic Pure Gold by the same brand.
I reassembled them, replacing the ball chain that was formerly the nose bridge with a piece of leather. As I said I made these rather generic in color so to use them in multiple costumes. The costume it was originally made for, however was this one, from the Beaux Arts Ball.
