[TheForge] Need more firescreen help please

[Barking Crow]

I'm finishing my firescreen and have some questions on the finish.  My
daughter and I heavily textured the frame (front side only)before attaching
the .028, 8 mesh wire that we ordered from Universal wire and cloth in
Morrisville, Pa.  We chose them as they were the cheapest we talked to and
the wire still cost 80 some odd dollars for 8 1/2 feet by 3 feet!  We bought
enough for 2 screens incase we screwed up, which we didn't, at least not so
far.  Had a difficult time figuring out how to attach the wire and ended up
welding it between the 11/4" x 3/16 frame that we riveted together at the
four corners and lengths of 1/8 by 1/2 that we had punched 1/8" holes in
every 3" or so.  I plug welded the holes while the strips were tightly
clamped onto the back of the frame with the wire in between, and was
relieved that the wire wasn't burned by the wire welding in the holes and
periodically on the outside of the 1/2 by 1/8 strips.  The frame stands in
roughly one plane and fits tightly against the opening of the fireplace.  It
is kept upright by the two feet that we made from 10" of 1/4 x 2 that  we
welded in place under the frame with 5 1/2" sticking out and 4 1/2 inside
the frame.  We heavily textured the feet as well.  The texturing was our
favorite part and we used 2 different sized ball peen hammers and a cross
peen that we alternated, both of us striking at the anvil at the same time.
I t was chaotic at times and I loved it as she was doing more at the anvil
than ever before.  I spent a good deal of the time shouting, "harder,
faster" as she used both hands on the big ball peen.  The design problem
that we are grappling with now, is that until we took the screen today to
try it out in the fireplace where it'll live I hadn't thought about the 4
1/2 " of the two feet that stick inside the fireplace getting nasty and then
transferring some of the soot to the rug on the floor outside the fireplace
when her boyfriends parents set the screen on the floor to adjust the fire.
We're now considering moving or shortening the feet, but the same problem
will remain.  Don't know what to do about that problem, but need some advice
on the finish that we'll apply this coming Friday, weather permitting.

We want a black finish as we think we need it to protect the wire, as I hope
to be dead before its time to change the wire, and want to have the
highlights of the texturing stand out shiny.  On the test piece I sprayed
the black paint and wiped it off almost immediately and too much of the
paint came off, leaving the piece sort of gray without much in the way of
shiny highlights.  So we're planning to paint the actual piece black and
wait for it to dry and hit the highspots with sandpaper to bring out the
highlights and then spray the frame but not the screen with a clear
rustoleum lacquer.  We're planning to use the rustoleum specialty high heat
on the wire and perhaps on the frame as well so that we can paint it all in
one trip.

Any suggestions or critique would be appreciated.  I have no problem with
profanity but am a bit sensitive so leave my Mom out of it if you can.
Thanks    Jeff Valentine