Show your colors in style
By Times staff
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 25, 2002
If you start now, you can have this stars-and-stripes wagon ready for Flag Day on June 14 and be able to relax on the Fourth of July. Directions for the project were provided by Thompson's, maker of the stains and adhesives suggested for use here. The project assumes you have a wagon with wooden sides over which the flag panels are slipped.
[Photo: Thompson’s]
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Materials
One sheet of plywood, 1/4 inch by 84 inches by 60 inches
100 small 1-inch wooden stars (available at crafts stores)
ezNails heavy-duty adhesive from Liquid Nails
Thompson's Water Seal Deck & House latex stain in red (California Redwood), white (Cream Buff) and blue (Colonial Blue)
3-inch synthetic brush
Cutting the wood
From the plywood, cut:
Two flag rectangles, 28 by 20 inches
Eight planks 163/4 by 1 1/2 inches
Ten planks 28 by 1 1/2 inches
Six planks 5 by 1 1/2 inches
Making the frame
Working on the inside, stack horizontally two of the 28 by 1 1/2-inch planks with ezNails to create a 3-inch plank and adhere this to the flag rectangle 9 inches from the bottom.
Adhere three of the 5-inch planks along the outer side of this 28-inch horizontal, stacked planks at 7, 14 and 21 inches, making sure the tops are flush. Allow the adhesive to dry completely. Repeat for the second flag. This creates the frame that slips over the wagon's wooden sides.
[Photo: Thompson’s]
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Staining the wood
Apply the white stain over both sides of the frame.
When it's dry, outline the blue portion of the flag in pencil (creating a blue field 10 1/2 inches deep by 11 1/4 inches wide). Stain blue.
While waiting for the blue stain to dry, paint 50 stars white. To create the red stripes on the white field, paint four 16 3/4-inch planks and three 28-inch planks red.
Repeat this process for the second flag.
Finishing up
Using a soft lead pencil, mark horizontal lines across the base 1 1/2 inches apart.
Adhere the red-stained planks to the white field, leaving 1 1/2-inch white stripes between them.
Adhere the white stars evenly on the blue field. Rows 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 use six stars; rows 2, 4, 6 and 8 use five stars.
Once the adhesive is dry, place the flag on the wagon by sliding the frames over the side edges.
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