I would of never thought of it myself the person I am making it for asked for it, it’s a fibonacci spiral, so the golden ratio is a part of it. Thanks for the kind words, I’ll post a pic or two when it is finally glossed up and polished…
The masking job was my toughest yet (I am still quite new at graphics), with all the colors. I was praying every time I pulled tape, hoping the previous colors wouldn’t get pulled up…
I still have the bottom and some inking to do, hopefully tomorrow, if the weather is good. I don’t have a garage, so I do everything outside.
Bad News… So I put 2 red stripes on the bottom of the board, turned out like so:
I thought adding some black lines on the sides of the red stripes would look good, so I taped off, painted, and when I pulled tape:
And…
There were other places, but those were the worst. What do you guys recommend? I was thinking of sadning the paint off and starting over. Any tips to prevent this??? I have no idea why I didn’t get any large pull-offs like this on the top, and was masking on top of paint all the time!
I am using craft acrylics thinned with future, and 3M 233+ tape. I also seal tapelines with an acrylic clear (spray can) before putting the paint on. The bottom is sanded to 220, maybe a little finer since the sanding pad was wearing out when I finished sanding the bottom. The top was only sanded to 180, and I only got tears when I sprayed the paint too thick. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it…
Max, I use the same craft paints thinned with Future and airbrush using an old Badger external-mix airbrush. I use 3M automotive pinline tape (1/4" wide, maybe vinyl), pulled as soon as the surface dulls. I burnish the tape down with the edge of a small mixing stick. The surfaces are sanded to 180 max, some 120. Tape is pulled toward the paint. If your paint is too thin and you aren’t getting enough opaque, you’re probably doing too many coats on the same tape. I mix pretty thick and open the airbrush valve very wide to get enough hide, but I pull that tape quickly. It’s easier to scrape off a smear than fixing pulled off paint. It takes a long time at 75 F temp to get a thick coat of acrylic to cure, so allow for that when you add borders to the painted areas. If I’m doing paint over an epoxy hotcoat, I’ll use a poly glosscoat over it since there’s less brushing needed. For paint over poly hotcoats, I add a layer of 4 oz. clear for durability and ease of sanding later. I also have used 3M magic tape (regular frosted), which is thin and has very little bleed. For a small design like on your deck photos, you would be better off making a printed lam.
One of the things I forgot to do is seal the red stripes with clear as KKSurf suggested above, and as you said, I may not have given the red enough time to cure. I masked for the black around 18hrs after pulling tape on the red, but it was curing in my laundry room, which does have a degree of humidity in it. Also, my paint may very well be mixed too thin, as I am using a POS pancake air compressor. Takes forever to do coats on any significant surface area, and I am also using POS spray guns from Harbor Freight, which worked well at first, but now leak air in several places. I was looking into the Badger Model 400. Is this the one you have? Do you have any suggestions of the tip size?
I have an exam on Friday that I have not started studying for, so it looks like the board will have to wait for the weekend to get done, thanks for the advice!
Hi Max, that’s a “detail” spray gun (that photo looks actual size). I use a Badger 350 airbrush which still sells for about $50. The spray volume/pattern is controlled by turning the nozzle. I have other airbrushes (internal-mix, double action), but this one allows me to shoot a very thick mix. Michael’s and other craft stores carry them, and there’s usually a 50% discount coupon sometimes in the newspaper. I’ve painted entire LB’s using this (2 colors each side with borders) over a hotcoat. As I mentioned, I usually put a 4 oz clear poly lam over the paint, and I never have problems with the paint even when I squeegee over it. The only problem I’ve had is slight darkening of the colors. I normally air-dry outdoors, moving the board in and out of the sun every 10 mins or so. While painting, I keep a heat gun ready to prevent runs if a pass goes too heavy. The compressor can be anything, it’s the tank size and water filter that are important. You can put an additional tank on a pancake type. I shoot my thick mixes at 45 psi, so there’s a lot of masking needed. BTW, I do not use paint on any personal boards; only colored resin or fabric/printed lams. All of the painting I do is for restorations or repairs of painted hotcoats.
The Badger 350 is almost the cheapest model. Because the nozzle design isn’t very sophisticated, it can throw very thick paints (it has 3 nozzles: small, medium, heavy). I would think that most pepole would find it tedious to do a whole board with it. For stripes and borders like yours, an airbrush is a better tool than a detail gun.
We do the repairs for Dewey Weber, who does a great deal of paint over hotcoats. They do a lot stripes that look similar to your photos, but wrap around the rails. These are terrible to repair; you tear through surrounding paint when the repaired area is blended in, so a simple ding is 2-3x the work of a non-painted. We charge $45 everytime the airbrush comes out regardless of the size. Most glassing shops around here won’t do paint because of tear-throughs as the gloss is sanded; there’s only one I know of that does it (Weber’s vendor actually). The paint that is normally used commercially is Nova Color acrylics which are $90 for 12 oz.
We keep our personal boards for 2-3 years, and then resell them. Invisible repairs can be done if you originally use an opaque lam + opaque hotcoat + clear glosscoat. Tints, volan, and painted foam will show everything. The restorations I do that will be ridden, have the paint covered by the 4 oz lam + hotcoat + glosscoat. This is insurance against the tear-throughs and gives a deeper look to the paint (Cooperfish does this on even resin colors). If the restoration is a wall hanger, I use urethane auto paints with a clear top coat just like a car. Painted boards look very colorful and have a lot of appeal in a showroom. 1 or 2 years of use and they don’t look so great. Most acrylic paint does fade with UV, so keep your boards out of the sun or bagged.
Howzit PeteC, If you buy the Nova paint from them it's way way cheaper. Can't find my order list from them right now but I remember prices for gallons for less than $90. When I find the lisy I will post some of the prices. Where do you buy it at such an inflated price, they are ripping you off big time.Aloha,Kokua
Novas prices vary from color to color. They only sell directly to the consumer from their store in Culver City CA and via mail order thru their website or over the phone. You can’t buy it from anybody else. Thats why their prices are so good compared to other high quality artist acrylic brands like Liquitex and Golden that are sold at art stores. Here’s the link to their site: http://www.novacolorpaint.com/
Oops, I thought I replying to a PM on my last post (via e-mail notification); sorry about mentioning any industry names. I was also incorrect on the NovaColor cost, it is really $90/gallon not per pint. It is very good quality paint.
Howzit Atomized, We can buy it from Fiberglass HI.. But from what I've heard they thin it out before selling it, but that is just what I've heard not expierenced.Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Atomized, We can buy it from Fiberglass HI.. But from what I've heard they thin it out before selling it, but that is just what I've heard not expierenced.Aloha,Kokua
Few years back Ashland (which was then called Polyester Chemical Corp) tried to get Nova Color to let them distribute the paint off their delivery truck that services the glass shops in So Cal. The folks at Nova said they would sell it to them but, at the same price they sell the paint to the consumer. Nova would’nt sell it at wholesale price because they don’t wholesale to distributors. Ashland decided to pass on it since they could’nt buy it at a discount and would have to sell it for more than what anybody could buy it directly from Nova to make any kind of a profit.
If FH is selling the paint it would seem that they would have to cut the paint or sell it for more than you can buy it directly from Nova in order to make any profit. Now you’re in Hawaii and I’m sure shipping is probably more if you mail order it compared to here in So Cal. So there may be an advantage to buying it from FH.
This reminds me of something. Back in the 80’s during the Neon Colors Era, the main supplier of the Flo paint was Magic Touch in Anaheim. They where buying the paint in 5 gallon buckets from DayGlo, re-bottling it in smaller containers and selling it. After some time, another company called Voltex started selling the Flo paint which did basically the same thing except they definitely watered the paint down. Ashland distributed Voltex off the truck until one day they figured out that the paint actually came from Day Glo. Ashland dumped Voltex and stated getting it directly from Day Glo. The price they sold it for to us did’nt go down though. A year later they raised it $10.
