100 Ideas | Week Eight

This week I chose the idea: Go to a paint store and collect chips of all your favourite colours.

I went to the paint shop in town today (after my first day back at university) and nervously approached the paint chart section and started picking out a few colours. I always feel a little uneasy sneakily taking a bundle just to decorate my bike - even though I know they're there for the taking. I had about ten picked out and I heard a man say my name behind me (and I thought, "crap, I've been caught", haha) and it turned out to be one of my regular customers at work, who happens to work at the paint store. The first thing he said was "you can take as many as you like for your bike!".  It was so nice to take them guilt free and we had a lovely chat. So, the moral of the story is make friends with the man at the paint store so you don't feel guilty taking all their paint charts. If you're ever in Launceston and you need paint, Andrew at Inspirations Paint & Colour is lovely - go to his shop.


Inside the paint shop.



I thought I'd give my bike a wash (only its second in the year and a half I've owned it) before I put the new spoke cards in. It was so filthy, poor thing. My bike weighs a tonne (I guess it was probably light when it was built in the 70s) and I am always knocking it on things and roughing it up. For a bike that is ridden every day of the year, it has held up exceptionally well. I'd love to get a lighter back-up bike, but I don't think I could ever sell this girl.



Bath time!




I layer the paint charts around the spokes, slotting them in close to the middle of the wheel, then I tape the backs and fronts of the cards to hold them in (if you don't do this they do come out and fly away down the street).


I decorated my basket last year with fabric yoyos (tied to the cane).



Freshly washed and spoked.