8 Easy Steps For Painting a Frat Cooler
- Emily Michelle Smith
- May 31, 2017
- 4 min read
Updated: May 7, 2019
No matter where you attend college, a student's priority should be to learn more than they can comprehend, question everyone around them when they can't comprehend, and gain friends to help them along the way. We usually think that incomprehensible topics are only covered in the classroom, but college is also about incomprehensible social traditions, like decorating a frat cooler. Who knew how hard that would be!
This article is a step-by-step guide to decorating a cooler that any frat boy would be proud to put beer inside.
A creative hand is helpful, but not necessary.
THE SUPPLIES:
1. Buy a Cooler: I chose a medium sized cooler without wheels. I highly recommend purchasing a cooler without wheels because painting around them would be very time consuming. I also recommend purchasing a white cooler, so step 3 below is quicker.
2. Use Heavy Duty Sander: I borrowed a Milwaukee Tool Electric Sander, but buying sand paper and manually sanding the cooler will work too.
3. Purchase Primer: I used Rust-Oleum Industrial Choice White Primer Spray Paint purchased from Lowe's because it's durable. White is also a great base color for your canvas. If you bought a white cooler, I still recommend adding one layer of primer so your paint will last longer.
4. Buy a Finish Coat:The Krylon Colormaster Crystal Clear Gloss Spray is my go to sealant and finisher for basically any art project I have ever completed. It works great and I love the shiny, glossy finish to showcase my hard work. [2019 update below]
5. Optional: Buy Spackle: You can use any spackle from the hardware store if your cooler has lines/ridges/indented logos running through it. This isn't mandatory, but the spackle filled in all of the holes, making for a much smoother paint job.
(See Below: Although the holes are still noticeable, they are much less deep and made painting easier). If I had more time, I would have spent more time spackling the lines.)
6. Purchase Acrylic Paint: Make sure to purchase a LOT of it for the background colors.
I also recommend purchasing paint pens. I bought a set of five (white, blue, red, black, and green) for letters and intricate designs.
7. Buy Mod Podge (Matte): This will be applied after the background layer is finished and before the finishing spray.
8. Purchase a Variety of Brushes: I recommend a few of each: large, small, thin, and sponge brushes
9. Purchase Elements for Design: White tissue paper, a sharpie, and lettering stencils for detailed work
10. Purchase Painters Tape: This will protect each side of the cooler as you paint
PRELIMINARY STEPS:
Step 1: Sand the cooler as much as you can to make it really gritty. This will help the primer stick extremely well and make the cooler's paint last much longer.
Step 2: Apply two layers of primer to the cooler, allow proper drying time to ensue between layers. Only prime the cooler twice because just like nail polish, if you put too many layers on it tends to peel easier.
Step 3: Apply one layer of the background color. Apply another layer if desired.
Step 4: Mod Podge (Matte) the background layer and let it dry before you begin intricate design work.
DESIGN:
Step 1: Find a design you would like to trace from the computer, paper, or anything and zoom-in to scale.
Step 2: Find a pencil and trace the design onto white tissue paper.
Step 3: Tape the tissue paper to the cooler and with a fine tipped sharpie outline the design
Step 4: Paint over the sharpie with the desired color- you may need another layer to completely cover the black sharpie.
If you are using a stencil to trace letters (Like I did for the name below), I recommend tracing in pencil straight onto the cooler because it can easily be painted over if there are mistakes.
The hardest design work was the Liverpool FC logo below. I used my green paint pen to make the whole create, my red pen for the Dragon and "Football Club", and finally my white pen for the "You'll Never Walk Alone". As you can probably tell, I traced everything on tissue paper besides the "Football Club" writing because I was in a time crunch. I recommend tracing EVERYTHING if you want flawless work!
5. After you are done painting and you are happy with your work, you will want to apply two layers of the Krylon finish to protect your work.
Here are the other sides:
If you are wondering, will my date ever use this thing again? Don't worry, the cooler has already been used his for a music festival, camping trip, road trip, and lake vacations!
If you have anymore questions about the cooler process I would be so happy to help! I loved creating the cooler even though the deadline approached very quickly for me.
GOOD LUCK!
[UPDATE 5.7.2019: Three years later and the cooler still looks fantastic, but I do recommend purchasing a stronger glossy coat as the top of the cooler has chipped.]
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