After sanding & priming, a few coats of white acrylic lacquer

Cow spots masked

Another light coat of white to seal the edges of the masking tape

Several coats of black painted

Alas! When removing the masking tape, all the paint comes off, leaving primer

What did I do wrong, guys?

Second try. Re-primered, let dry overnight, wet-sanded, painted white again, let dry overnight. Time to mask

Pattern drawn

Spots cut out

Tape applied

Painting black, starting with several light mist coats to help it get a grip on the paint below

All coats of black are done, and left to dry overnight

Same problem! The primer sticks great, but the paint just peels right off

Ahh, this is medium adhesion, not low. And it does say "do not use on lacquer." Hmm.

Third try. This time using Krylon paint (enamel? doesn't say), baking each coat in a cheap toaster oven. Also using frisket film for masking rather than masking tape. Box is masked

Cow spots painted, frisket film removed right after painting, before paint was dry. Now baking the black

Yesss, bake, my pretty

This time the film came off cleanly. Woo!

Custom-printed water-slide decals applied (badly), time for clear coat. But what's this! The polyurethane clear coat isn't compatible with the paint (must be acrylic after all). Bubbling

Switch to clear lacquer for the clear coat. 5-7 coats applied. Underside shown

Clear coat dried, pedal assembled. Not terrible for a first project, even if it did take three tries

Naturally, it's got CREAM-colored knobs

The pedalboard

Current guitar setup (the Fender cab and Micro-Korg aren't mine)

Andres' setup