Good evening everyone,
As you can see below, I have loads of old used C7 and C9 Christmas light bulbs just sitting around. Unfortunately on a good majority of them, the outside “colour lacquer” has faded and/or is chipping off the bulb from exposure to heat and the elements - and thus looks like crap. Most of these bulbs are still good and have plenty of life left in them, so what I’ve been doing is using them whenever I want WHITE bulbs by taking these used lamps to the wire wheel and removing the paint that way. Works quite well and gives them a second life!
Here’s my dilemma though. I still have a use for COLOURED bulbs like this, however the local stores here sell them for over a dollar PER BULB nowadays, and the colours fade out after a season of use. In addition, the ceramic / solid colour bulbs I happen to like (since they don’t wear out or fade) are even more expensive and completely unobtanium now that the stores have discontinued them. There is always the option of Amazon and eBay, but the prices on there are insane. Aliexpress yields no results and Alibaba is sketchy with the added bonus of the most insane shipping prices I’ve ever seen. Definitely not economical to be buying new incandescent Christmas light replacement bulbs anymore… whatever happened to 89 cents for a 4 pack?!
Since I’ve got literal buckets of FADED but GOOD Christmas light bulbs, I’m wondering if there is a way to somehow repaint them to resemble how they were new? I think it would be easier to replicate the ceramic type bulbs, but I’d need some kind of paint that is glossy, and can withstand high temperatures (so it won’t go gooey). Has anyone ever pulled this off? I’d be curious to hear from those in the lampmaking world that may know what kind of paint is used for this application and the best technique to apply it. Below are some ceramic C7 and C9 lamps I bought last year (which are discontinued now), and I’d ideally like to replicate what those look like, but by painting them myself.
Thanks for reading, hopefully someone has some insight here!