Christmas Present! and I need ideas....

[Tubajug]

This was a gag gift from my sister-in-law, but actually is one of my favorite Christmas presents I received this year: a home-made four foot long conducting baton! It's simply a dowel rod painted white with twine wrapped and hot-glued into the shape of a bulb. I thougth it was pretty ingenious. My question is: does anyone have any ideas for something I can either dip the bulb into or something to put around it (glue, resin, epoxy, etc..) that would keep it together? I'm just afraid that the hot glue won't hold it together forever and I'd really like to keep this. Any ideas?

Here's the baton next to our front door:


A close up of the bulb:


Thanks!

[Rane]

Polyurethane is what's used on some high-wear surfaces like tables and furniture to create a hard coating. I don't have any experience with it but it might be a solution. Krylon and Rust-o-leum make a spray can form and it's cheap. I would definitely try several coats on a piece of junk first though. Polyurethane coatings are also available in larger quantities(quart, gallon) if you wanted to try dipping it. Minwax has several variants available in different textures.

[termite]

I think that epoxy resin may perform better than polyurethane if you can figure out how to apply it and get the right shape. Standard West System Epoxy is a bit thick and runs slowly, ultimately leveling out, for some time before going off.

It you end up sanding epoxy to shape leaving a dull scratched surface you could finish up dipping it in thinned polyurethane for a final coat to get the shine back.

The above is pure speculation - I haven't tried using epoxy on something this shape.

Regards

Gerard