Today I want to update one of my past projects. I seem to never be completely contented in any project I take on, and usually end up tweaking it in some way or another further down the road. It’s been well over a year since I first “completed” my motherboard wall art project, and as I sit and stair at it everyday, it occurred to me recently that it may not actually be a finished project. I enjoy looking at it, but it seems that it might look better it it were not so multi-coloured. Different motherboards always seem to sport a range of colours, and with 12 different motherboards, there was a lot of colour.The first thing I needed to do was see if it would even be possible to paint this project. I’ve never tried to paint electronics before, and the variety of materials – different kinds of metals and plastics would make it a challenge for any paint to cover everything. After a sample I discovered that with a coat of automotive primer spray paint, I could easily paint the entire project.
I setup a paint station in my garage, and began removing all the RAM, BIOS and CPU chips. I had this idea that I would leave them unpainted and after painting the entire project, I would place them back into their corresponding slots. This would allow me to use the chip-less motherboards – painted in one solid colour – as a canvas for the removed chips.
After removal of all the microchips, and a good cleaning of the motherboards, I then had to decide on a colour. I’ve been working on designing my home office to have a simplistic, clean look, and so I thought that I would paint this project white. I went back and forth between flat white and glossy white for way too long. It wan’t until I was standing in the paint isle at Canadian Tire with a can of each in my hands that I finally decided on flat white.
At this point I can say that I am completely happy with my choice. I have this project back up, hanging over my computer desk, and really enjoy it. I hope that this project inspires you as it does me.
Ron Leblanc .me 