Some of you pinstripers have some work with some really tight curves, how do you get em that tight? I'm using a 00Mack green and it want's to fan out when I turn/twist it... or it'll lay flat and make a huge stripe. Thanks for the help fellas!!
Well, first of all, I prefer the series 10 blue ferrel. Seems to be a better quality hair that doesn't want to freak out on you, and better attention to quality control, but I still have been known to use a green in a pinch. I tend to trim my brushes, about a 1/16th out of the belly. I personally feel it helps to make turns a little easier. Of course this is just my opinion, and like that particular body orfice, everybody's got one. The biggest key to turns is getting vertical. While you may be able to hold the brush at a slight angle for less radical turns, the tighter the turn, the more you need to stand up on your fingertips, adjusting your pressure to maintain you line thickness, but now less the brush length wise is in contact with the surface. Of course you also need to "spin" the brush in your fingers as you make the turn. Remember, the line is being made at the tip of the brush, but rather at the point it makes contact with the surface closest to your hand, so you have to twist the brush so that the tip follows along in the path of paint. I hope this makes sense. You can PM me anytime for more pointers and if you get up to Tulsa some time, I'd be happy to show you a few things.
Here's a couple of demo pics I made up. In pic one you'll see what I mean by going vertical. Less surface contact is what you need for the tight turns. In the second pic you'll see what I mean when I say you have to turn the brush. The brush has to point in the direction of travel in order to keep the hairs from flying out. If you don't turn the brush and "stiff arm" it, you'd have to be able to move 180 degrees, so instead, we rotate the brush in your fingers so that the brush is in the right position as illustrated even though you arm and hand position change very little. Of course, all of this is academic, as skratch so succently put it: practice,practice,practice
Yes, there is a brush for making tight curves, it is called an outliner. It is like a long bristle quill and will make very tight curves easier than a striper. It also comes in a variety of sizes just like the striper. Sign men used to carry quills, stripers and outliners in different sizes to use for different size lines. Striper guys start with striper brushes and then try to make them do everything. In the drawing above, the bristles are shown straight. In fact, the bristles of the brushes should be twisted, by twirling it in your fingers, to the exact radius of the curve. If it is not twisted into the shape of the curve, the bristles will pop out like you described in your question. The brush must grip the surface just enough to allow you to twist it without popping out. If you do it right, your brush will follow the curve and have an equal width line.
How tight is "tight" ? An untrimmed Series 10 will turn around a nickle,with practice. Much easier with an Outliner,or one of the Wizard/Kafka/Jenson variations.
Stand the brush up,twist the handle in the direction you want to go. Twist more than you think you need,then some more. And continue twisting as you move around the curve. Go find my thread "How to hold a Pinstriping brush for fun and profit".
Daggers over swords for tight work, maybe even an Xcaliber. Like the above mentioned, stiff arm it vertically, roll the brush handle in the direction you wanna go...roll it some more...little more....now pull the line. It's just like learning how to pull a straight line. Lots of time and dedication. My brush of choice is a Series 10 size 1, and I can get some pretty small radius' out of it if I tried.
As a "hobby" stripper I know what you mean, I stuggled a long time to get tight turns while the pro's made it look easy. Finally got decent at it with a Mac series 10 but then Bobbo gave me one of his new scrolling brush, tight turns got a LOT easier plus it does well for small designs. If you want to try a different brush I'd definately PM him and get one.
Wow... I had forgotten I started this thread, I've been so busy with work! Man you guys are really helpful... Thanks Toot... I may have to holler at you next week if I'm up there. Where do you guys get your dagger brushes?
Mack has Daggers and Swords in their catalog. I've got one Dagger,not thrilled with it. Doesn't work the way i was expecting.
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