I'm hoping I can pull this off as a beginner. I've painted one car before, but willing to try it, I sure can't afford to pay for it, so this is how we learn, lol I was thinking of this pattern on the car I'm building. The blue would be like a non metallic glossy deep color like would be found on an enamel filled pin/brooch/cufflink/trunk ornament/etc. House of Kolor Oriental Blue comes to mind. The gold would be 100% coverage at the very front of hood and fenders before transitioning into stars. Maybe they all touch and wrap into the grille area. The gold could be darker than this image and metalflake or even bassboat flake (turned leaf? Lol) would be ok I'm not sure what technique or steps would be used to lay it out, or what to paint first, stencil, tape off or even just hand paint stars over the blue. Also the technique to get the light fade in the middle of the blue...candy the blue over a base of silver flake? What order of operations does one do for something like this? How does one peel the star templates out of the paint? Is this impossible for a beginner? Is turned leaf a viable option in this case? The more I type, the better it sounds to me, lol Thanks, -rick
Basically buying a large stencil. Spray the gold. Apply the vinyl stencil leave the stars, remove the rest of the stencil. then spray the blue.
How does one pick up the edge of the stencil to grab it? I understand you pull tape while still wet, I'm assuming the same with a stencil. -rick
Patience. Could do the reverse. Spray blue Lay out the stencil and remove the stars. Spray the gold. doing some graphics on a project at school. We sprayed the border/letter color first. Applied one coat of clear. Tape sticks to the clear better than the base. I’m no graphic expert like the lowrider guys are. Sanded the clear, layed out the border/letters then applied the main color. Clear the entire panel after removal of tape Removing the tape is a practice in patience. You need to remove the tape in the reverse order it was applied. A good eye and a steady finger nail or even a razor blade edge. Put on my strongest pair of readers. Pull the tape back at an angle. I like to pull after the base has dried/flashed for few. Around 15 minutes The fun part is figuring out how to fix minor boo boos.
Oof. I don't even know how those low rider guys peel the center of the roof. Maybe that's the reason the cars are so low, lol! -rick
Exacto blade(many different shapes available) instead of a razor blade? Would be easier for me anyways... IDK... Marcus...
Considering that pattern, I would think about having someone cut the vinyl on one of those plotters that makes decals. You could have them make a sheet the size you want with all the stars already pulled out and you could just put the big sheet on. That seems a lot easier to me than pulling every star on the car either before or after paint. I basically did this as part of a Stars and Stripes pattern where the stripes were also flames. You would paint the base color first, clear, sand the clear with 1000 or so, put the vinyl on, shoot the star color, pull the vinyl and clear it all.
I don’t really like using exact knives on paint any more than necessary since it cuts the paint. I learned to use razor blades years ago and pulling the tape across it when I was doing graphics on fabric parts on aerobatic planes. Definitely couldn’t cut the fabric…
Hmm…just noticed your fade into the stars detail. That makes it tougher in my mind and I would have to think about that a minute…
Yes, this way. Paint Mask is a removable vinyl, the adhesive is not as strong. Designed to be removable. The vinyl sign people can cut anything on their machines.
The Blue fade in the background ? Shoot that first, then a couple coats of Intercoat Clear. The gold stars go on top. Then more clear.
COULD be done in Gold Leaf. Turning Leaf is slightly tougher, but possible with practice. LOTS of practice. The easy option is Gold vinyl, cut on a plotter. Install it wet. Some people spray Adhesion Promoter over the vinyl, then bury in Clear. Whatever you decide, test and practice. Then practice some more.
Do you have any issue with tape sticking to tge intercoat clear? Haven’t tried any for that yet. Only for blends.
Add a little White to the same Blue. Suddenly, the color is lighter. The fade comes from technique, which comes from practice.
Depends on the tape. Paint needs to be dry enough. In the example above, the intercoat clear allows you to sand the stars off, if you make a big mistake.
I used to do all my graphics whether flames, scallops, stripes, whatever with just base coat and no clear between anything. I spent 25 hours straight in the shop shooting a sealer on a pickup, then black basecoat, masking flames, shooting the pinstripe color, covering it up, then shooting the yellow, orange and red before unmasking and clearing the whole deal. But, that is a huge risk if things go wrong or you don’t finish and get it cleared within the window of when things can be top coated. I pealed the paint off a whole other truck one time other than the stripes that I painted first and was sick because the sealer was left open too long and the base didn’t stick anywhere but the stripes… That was also using Sikkens paint so materials weren’t cheap to do it twice. Safest way to do graphics is with something to protect between layers in case of paint leaking under tape, or a number of other things that can go wrong and may need fixed.
It also buries the blue, which might be affected by the gold solvents. The gold might 'soften' the blue and allow the gold to be affected by the blue pigment. Also, crisp lines around the gold tape lines are easier to fix with an intercoat. You can also wipe the intercoat more with prep sol and not worry about it, especially the same day if you have limited time to shoot. Yep, with masking tape and a lot of time!
Also, I did all graphics with just tape as well. I just wouldn’t likely try something like those stars that way when there is an easier way.
Layout would be a b!t$h to go from solid, to big stars to progressively smaller stars. Just cutting stars is lots of sharp inside and outside transitions. Easy to do in layout and using a plotter.
There are always other ways, a vinyl mask would be the easiest. Second choice, a hand cut stencil for one row, then just repeat. Third choice: Make a paper pattern for one row, transfer with Sarel Transfer Paper. Then hand paint.
This option sounds like a winner to me. I imagine I could get a turned gold leaf vinyl that I could stick to the blue and bury it under the clear. You said install it wet- like lay the vinyl down on the wet blue coat? Thanks for the insight! -rick
Sign Gold does Spun Gold Leaf laminated in vinyl. https://signwarehouse.com/products/sign-gold-real-22-karat-gold-leaf-vinyl Not inexpensive stuff. Personally, I have never used it. There are other vinyl options. The paint has to be DRY, before doing vinyl. Or you will have problems. The pros spray soapy water on the surface, then apply their vinyl, so they can reposition. Then squeegee the water out from under the design. Check youtube for vinyl application vids.
oh I see, like the model decals I did back in the day. I saw that gold sign vinyl, still spendy but looks like nice intermediate option. Thanks so much, very helpful! -rick
Any vinyl sign shop can make you a mask. You "weed out" the stars either before or after. Nobody mentioned intercoat clear. Spoiler alert, it's just clear basecoat like the binder used to make a color. Cheap, dries fast, effective in keeping the work protected. In staring at your desired design my brain wanted to change it a little. I'd do gold 1st with a coat of clear base. Add the stars. Lay down the blue fade but let the stars fade in too so the gold is solid at the desired end then fades into stars. This way you have progressively heavier blue and might even remove a step of spraying. I can "see it" but maybe it doesn't translate to words that well. Final intercoat clear advantage (remember it's just basecoat) you can just go back and grey pad for the next step, even a day or more later with no ill effect. Yeah, I'm lazy like that...
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