Just interested in any methods (economical) for coloring surfboards from simple to more advanced. I.e. methods/ materials for using latex spray paints; how to properly use posca pens; methods for doing pinlines etc.; air brushing methods
I realize this is a large subject area, but any hints would be appreciated.
A couple of questions:
-Does posca art happen on top of a sanded hotcoat finish and is sealed over by either a hotcoat or gloss coat after art is complete?
-Is the most popular method for board coloring air brushing?
-Does resin tinting happens during the laminating process and then is sealed by the hot coat?
posca pens are generally used directly on the foam, before the board is laminated, but they can be used over the hotcoat as well. airbrushing is probably the most common method of coloring a surfboard, but personally i prefer using tinted resin, either directly on the foam, in the lam, in the hotcoat, or any combination thereof for multiple colors or different effects. and to answer your final question, resin tints are most often done in the lam coat.
there are a number of different ways to do pinlines. personally, my method of preference is to use tinted resin over the hotcoat, and then seal it in with a gloss. this produces the most classic, refined, high quality finish of the different methods available, IMHO.
if doing airbrush, lay it on thin and cut it with Future acryllic floor sealer. i try and stay away from airbrush due to colors bleeding in the lam, a spotty finish due to small holes in the foam, and the possibility of crystallization/delamination.
soulstice pretty much nailed it, but I’ll add one more thing about using Posca pens on hotcoats.
You have to put some kind of clear over them or they’ll rub off when you wax or some other time. Usually the topcoat is a layer of rattle can clear. This could be epoxy or urethane, even enamel. You can get a pretty fair gloss with rattle can stuff, given a decently sanded (220 or finer) hot coat.
I would not use Posca on foam. The foam is so soft after shaping I trim my finger nails and take off the wedding band( Now, where did I put that thing? Shhhhhhh) to avoid scouring my shaped blank. Use poscas on the sanded hotcoat and seal with acrylic clear coat and/or gloss coat or both. I’ve painted blanks with cheap kids acrylic paint and a brush before glassing with pretty good results. Pigments go on the lam coat in general and like soulstice said pigmented pinlines are way cool. Mike
resin tints are done in the laminating stage. Doing them in the hotcoats stage is asking for a lot of trouble.
Resin pigment is very inexpensive. $4 buks for an ounce which will color several boards. But it is a rather tricky method of laminating. You must be very even with the squegee or you’ll end up with a blotchy color. Also you will need to do cutlaps else the color will be all ove the rails…very sloppy and does not look good.
I have used acrylic paint on the hot caot followed by a gloss coat. I have not used Posca pens but have used similiar products. Word of caution is to test everything you use prior to doing the final gloss. A lot of these product, even some acrylic paint pens will lift off in the gloss.
airbrushing is probably the most common method of coloring a surfboard, but personally i prefer using tinted resin, either directly on the foam, in the lam, in the hotcoat, or any combination thereof for multiple colors or different effects. and to answer your final question, resin tints are most often done in the lam coat.
soulstice, thanks for the helpful information. Sorry for sounding like a newbie but how do you apply tinted resin? Do you catalyze it and spray it on? (i use to paint cars) When you tint the resin does it come out transparent like a candy color or is it solid? TIA
Put the resin tint in the lam resin and mix well. When your ready to lam kick it off with catalyst and lam the board. Light colors are the easiest. Yellow is a good first. Dark colors are tough. mike
that tint is done entirely in the lam coat. multiple batches of resin are mixed up with all those different colors. they are then catalyzed, and combined WITHOUT REALLY MIXING THEM TOGETHER (maybe one little swoosh of the mixing stick). the board is then laminated with this concoction of colored lam resin, and (hopefully) what you see there is the end result. even experienced glassers have screwed up some really good-lookin’ boards trying colored lams like that, and it’s definitely NOT recommended for a beginner. if however, you want to see some AMAZING glasswork, check out what Gene Cooper does at Cooperfish Surfboards. i can spend hours looking at his boards.
mix hotcoat with a dash of styrene monomer (helps draw out and levels the pin nicely) for pin color (put some aside for poss. repair).
sand lightly with 220 in direction of pin (reduces bleed)
Prep: light cleaning with acetone, wash with soap and water (do not use compressor air at this point - atomized oil will contaminate and pit your line as well as your gloss)
Use 3M 233 only for masking pins (no bleed, no tape residue). The 3M Fineline works well for 1/8 and 3/16 pins. Push down all edges of masking tape with tongue depressor.
Apply pin with decent (i.e Purdy) natural bristle brush (light bristle for dark colors, dark bristle for light colors); pull tape at FIRST hint of kick.
If tape pulls some of your line, re-mask and dab areas with newly catalyzed pin formula held from initial color batch.
After pin hardens adequately, knock down any high spots with hard block and 320, then wetsand entire pin with 320 blocked with sanding sponge (conforms to the profile of the pin).
For the first time resin tinter heres a good idea. Do everything as above but use resin tints with just a dash of pigment in the same color. Also use UV resin, they work fine as long as you don’t try to use a full pigment color block out. It’s best to use light resin colors, yellow, orange, with a dash of black or red is good. But you can get away with greens, blues, purples etc, you just have to add about 1/4 the cat you would usually use in the lam. with a quart of UV resin I use about 2 cc total.
UV resin is especially good for dark single color tint jobs ie, Dark Green, Dark Blue, Dark Purple because it gives you plenty of time to even out the lam and do away with blochy color jobs, but remember to add a little cat to kick it. If your not good at laminating a clear board, your colored board will be something less than desirable, every dry spot, bubble, pinhole, and god know what will show up. And if you have a sand through in the sanding phase, you’ll never get it matched in the patch…especially if your doing a resin swirl.
If you want to do a swirl, Mix your base color, put the color into 10-15 small dixie cups 1/4 full, then add your complementary colors to that base. Just don’t dump them in, lightly drizzle them in, make sure you have at least 3 colors, so make a quart of base, 1/2 pint of accent color, 1/4 pint of white or black? Take the dixie cups and pour or dump them onto the blank & glass. Now laminate as usual, using the small cup method will eliminate you having muddy colors at the end of your lamination pull. Set aside 1/2 quart of the base color, and use that to wet the rails, or dip your hand into to wet out the dry spots on the wrap.