A brief follow up: the front wheel has been laced. My earlier problem was due to poor calculations/short spokes.
I was able to do a quick test spray on the fork. First time using liquid masking. This seemed like an easy, low stakes situation to try the masking and also get familiar with pain flow. I will have to remask before clear. Maybe clean up the color a bit too. The negative space will be filled with the second frame color but I'm not sure at what point in the process I should do that.
