Questions for the Lucite Lovers

I picked up a lot of brushes today because I've wanted one of the Ever-Ready hourglass shaped brushes for some time. In that lot is a Lucite handle that is starting to spend a lot of time running through my head. I've been looking through the threads I can find on restoring them and I've arrived at the following questions:

1. The knot area is the usual black. If I remove the knot and sand out the black, how well does this area take new paint? Should it be left rough, or polished before painting?

2. What type of paint works best? My plan is to use automotive paint with pearl in it to match my wife's new car as this is going to be a gift to her.

3. Even with painting the knot area, should I still tint the epoxy? Would the auto paint work for this if I need to?

I appreciate anything you guys can share. I'm hoping to do something pretty unique with this and not just a re-knot.

The paint will come off while you sand it, but it's not a big deal. I used testors model paint, a poster suggested that I mix the paint with the epoxy to make it look better. The sanded area will take paint well, I did do a little bit extra sanding with a 400 grit, it may have been a bit too smooth. I probably should have stopped at around 200

Looking forward to seeing your project.

On my lucite project I left the hole where the knot goes at about 1000 grit and polished everything else out to mirror. IMO leaving it a bit rough gives the paint a better mechanical adhesion. But make sure any gouges and deep scratches are out otherwise they will show.
I used testors paint also. I didn't tint the epoxy but I can't image it hurting anything.
Good luck!

Is there anything more beautiful that finely polished Lucite?