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Reader project: colourful Quidditch with PlastiKote spray paint

Quidditch is a team sport in real life – who knew? We happened upon Megan’s Instagram page – thebroomcupboard  – and saw her fabulous, customised broomsticks for Quidditch players, made using PlastiKote spray paint. Having Googled real-life Quidditch, we were fascinated by this team sport – looks like great fun and good to see mixed teams playing.

Megan loves the sport and explains how she decorates the broomsticks:

“So, I probably should start by saying in Quidditch we use PVC pipes instead of brooms in the traditional sense. I know its disappointing, we don’t fly either. However, it does mean they’re easy to custom paint.

Stormcloak

After making the broom, I draw the design on paper, tape it to the pipe and engrave it on with a Stanley knife. After it’s engraved, I put PVA glue on the sections I don’t want paint on, then when the PVA glue dries I spray paint over it with PlastiKote.

Peeeeeel

The paint dries on top of the glue so I can just peel it off leaving the underneath untouched. The glue also doesn’t strip pre-existing paint so I can layer my designs with lots of different colours. If I need to do small sections, I PVA the immediate area around the design, then use electrical tape to layer paper around the design.

 Snake Broom

After the design is done, the brooms get a top coat and are left to dry before they’re posted off to their new owner.

Galaxy Broom for spi

Quidditch is a full-contact sport and we play in all weathers so the paint needs to be very durable.

 

Image courtesy of CatxPhotography
Image courtesy of CatxPhotography

My first broom has been to several muddy tournaments, twice-weekly training sessions and carted all around the country and it’s still going strong. I still have my first spray can as well, the pigment in PlastiKote is so strong that I only really need two layers, even on black PVC.”

We love Megan’s designs and hope her ‘thank you’ gift for sharing her project with us – some PlastiKote spray paints – come in handy for future broomsticks!

If you’d like to see more of her work, take a look at her Instagram and Facebook pages.

For more information and inspiration from PlastiKote, visit our website here.

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