Gumball Machine Makeover!

I have been doing a lot of "research" on gumball machines for quite awhile now. I looked at some on Ebay, thinking maybe I would like one that's vintage. The one problem I kept coming across was that they all seem to fit those tiny gumballs! The ones that are about 1/2". I wanted one that could fit the 1" gumballs. So I started looking at other companies online. I know I've said I like to shop online now, but I'm still a bit hesitant going with a new company. (new to me, and not Amazon..

The first company I ordered from was Gumball Machine Factory. I would NOT recommend them. The machine came a week after I ordered it. When I received the box it was as if I had bought it from a person on Ebay, not a company. I was immediately worried... inside the globe was scratched, there was a small screw rattling around in the machine part, when we found which screw it was, it had a piece of plastic attached showing that it HAD been broken off. So I called them the next day to see what we could do to make this right. They said they would ship me a new machine and it would take a week, also they would not give me a discount or anything for having to wait another week for a machine.

I decided to look online and called another company, http://www.candymachines.com The person I talked to was so helpful! She gave me a 10% discount for being a first time customer! This new machine would have an ALL metal body which was a huge plus since the other one had SOME metal parts to it.

Of course I called back to the Gumball Machine Factory and said I would be ordering from elsewhere and that I would just like a refund. Which they said they would give me when they received the machine back. I talked to one of the owners and explained that it would have been nice to be able to receive a discount or maybe be reimbursed for shipping, SOMETHING to make me want to order from them. He said, they aren't Amazon and they would not be able to do anything that I mentioned. I told him that I did order from a different company, they gave me a discount and it would be here in a week, he wanted to know which company. I didn't tell him and sent the machine back... they did issue me a refund the day after they received the damaged machine back. Poor customer service.

Anywaaaaaays... My new machine came, and I was so excited to see the professional packaging that you would expect from a company! There was no scratches and it was so much more sturdy!

The before picture I took indoors did not turn out as clear so this is a stock photo, just to give you an idea of the BEFORE.

THE FIRST THING TO DO BEFORE TAKING IT APART OR PAINTING ANYTHING, IS TO TEST IT OUT! :) I put a few gumballs in and a quarter, it worked! I can't quite explain how happy this was making me!

The next thing I did was AS I TOOK IT APART, I TOOK A LOT OF PICTURES. OF EVERY STEP! This made it so easy to put back together especially because it looks easy and it was, but there was a certain direction that my machine had things on the inside that the pictures came in handy for. So don't skip this step! :)

I also did not paint any of the parts where the gumballs would be touching on the inside of the machine. That includes the black "chute" with the door, see it? The one with the rhino on it? ( the "rhino" was not mentioned in the description on the website, and you couldn't see it in the picture, but, what are you going to do?)

Most of the parts came out very easily. The globe was the part that had some screws that needed to be removed, but it all came apart, I took the globe inside. The base on the globe needed to be painted.

This is the top and the very bottom of the machine.

In the picture below you'll see the only part of the globe base that will get paint. I taped off the inside, where the gumballs would be touching so that they would not touch the chemicals rom the paint.

Of course picking colors is the fun/difficult part. I have a lot of gold in my craft room, the glitter was making me a little nervous. I had seen a picture of a gumball machine on Pinterest though and it looked really fun! I was thinking that it might not cover the red very well and I was right, after one and then two coats, I decided to use a gold spray paint that I just happened to have ;) as a base coat. (Pictured below)

Here's the gold I used. I just love this color, it can be a little spendy elsewhere but Michael's carries it and I used a 50% off coupon making it a few dollars.

The base coat of gold was just the key! I ended up using the rest of the can of the Glitter, coating the layers about 5-15 minutes apart.

Now for the base, coin slot, and door that the gumball comes out of, I used the white spray paint that can be

found at Home Depot (Pictured towards the top of the post.) It's my go-to white. It has the primer in it, covers excellent and is pretty durable.

This picture is just after one coat. I did a few coats. The first two were thicker and the next one or two were just little touch ups.

When it was completely finished, I felt like the lady in the Chewbacca mask, you know the one... she's in her car, laughing historically from the joy the mask was bringing her?! Well... that was me. Oh, and did I mention this was my Mother's Day gift. (Yes, I picked out my own gift :) I was just soooooo happy! The next morning I came into my craft room and just sat and looked at it for a few minutes. It's the little things, people! "IT WAS WORTH EVERY PENNY!"

P.S. That Chewbacca lady must be the funnest person ever!

P.P.S. When we first saw her video, it was the first night it came out, so before the millions of views. I was laying in bed, and thought, huh, what's this crazy lady about? I was laughing so hard I was crying. CRYING! HILARIOUS. Sooooo funny.

P.P.P.S. My husband said, I bet you wish she was your friend. Yes, yes, I do. ;)