just got the pinstripe wanabes . got some good brushes and some one shot and went to work .I knew it wasen't going to be easy but i want to learn to do it . but i can't seam to get the paint just rite whats the seacret . do you use the paint right out of the can for littering and thin it for striping. if so how much thiner. Is there a standard formula or is it just by expermenting with the mix .u kno like 10 to 1 or something like that. HELP!!! thanks johnrodz
No standard formula to it, as each can of paint is different. I use plain old mineral spirits, and thin it til my brush doesn't want to catch or drag. If you thin it down too much, you won't get good coverage. Also, make sure you are palletting your brush properly. Go to the top of the page and click the search button, enter 'pinstriping" there's tons of threads on pinstriping, and there's surely some that can help you way more than I can,
I don't think there's a definite formula, at least that anyone told me. I thin with mineral spirits, mix with a popsicle stick, until the paint kind of runs off smooth when you pull it out out of the cup. Don't thin too much or you won't get good coverage and the paint will "bleed". Short story, keep playing around, you'll know when it's right.
Granted I'm kind of a striping newbie myself so who am I to give advice, but just play with the brush a little and you'll get the hang of it. Make sure you are loading the brush properly and just go to town. The easiest way for loading (for me) is to make sure your brush is clean, dip it into the paint jar, and just work it back and forth like a mop onto a magazine or paper. If your paint seems a little thick just add a little bit of enamel reducer to your paint and you should be fine. There really isn't any standard formula for mixing your paint, so just mess around and see what you prefer.
There is no "magic" formula, and if you think you have found one, just wait until the weather changes. Most people thin the paint as they work, using two cups. One for paint, the other for thinner. As the paint on the pallet gets too sticky, you dip the tip of the brush in the thinner, and pallet some more. Search on Youtube for Alan Johnson. Some of his videos show the technique. Some of my work:
LOTS of good info for beginners in our yahoo group archives and Database: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/pinstriperspage/
Phone books make great pallettes. Dip in thinner, wipe on phonebook. Dip in paint, wipe on phonebook. Mix around with both sides of brush. Run a test line on the page. Repeat until desired consistency is achieved. Striping is a very intuitive thing. Just let it flow...
+1 on the mineral spirits. I use glossy magazine covers to pallet my brush, and sometimes when I'm doing particularly fine work or touching up points, I pallet the brush with my left forefinger and thumb while wearing a latex glove. sorry about the handbag pic, taken while still wet, didn't wipe off the blue guidelines yet.
I dump a tiny puddle of the 1-shot onto a plastic plate. Then I pallet it around the edges of the plate. Usually no thinner, but a lot of frequent brush cleaning with mineral spirits. Maybe some thinning if it's hot out or if the job is taking a long time.
unless you know someone to really help you start out in person your just going to need keep playing and you will find your own way of working it out.. people can tell you little things on here but you really need to just get down with it and don't stop working at it....
Very true. Last summer I was outside working on one of those very hot days. My brushes were just drinking the reducer.
I will second the glossy magazines suggestion. The pourous paper in Phone Books sucks up a lot of solvent.
The most important thing is practice. It takes along time to become proficient with striping. You will make alot of mistakes as you go. It can be very aggrevating. Stay positive and try to stripe daily. Set a fender, door or quarter panel up in your garage and pull stripes every day on it. whipe'em off and do it again. Repetition and persitance will pay off. Check out Alan Johnson like the other guys said, his videos are awesome. Just don't expect to do work like his right away. Good Luck. Keep striping!
I've been pinstriping for about 29 years, the way i am teachin my 13 year old to pinstripe is by takin a old (but clean) piece of glass, and then take a piece of paper (maskin paper works good) draw your design on it. Then slide it under the glass. And practice over your design, if ya mess up, hell just wipe it back off or let it dry and take a razor blade and scrape it off. here's my son doin his first real payin job
Someone once described the brush as "slipping" through the paint. I use the magazine method as mentioned before. It has nice texture. I don't use a lot of thinner, i just clean my brush off in spirits first (to get the preserve oil off, naturally) then i wipe it well on a paper towel, then hold a paper towel to it to get any excess off. I want to leave some though. I then dip into my paint, and bring some (once it stops running off the brush) to the magazine pallet. From there i begin going front and back, side to side, kind of like sharpening a knife and sometimes swirling the brush to get the paint on the brush well. From there you can feel if it's too "wet" or too "dry". If paints dripping off your brush it's too darn wet. If you pull a line and only get an inch and run out of paint, or it "skips" then you are too dry. PRACTICE! As unkl ian says, depending on your weather it will vary. Good luck -ace go to pinheadlounge.com too. you can see my chicken scratch at pinheadlounge.com/acebrown
A good bit of advice........it ain't as easy as some people make it look. Unless you are very "gifted," it's gonna' take a lot of practice. Most important, keep it fun.
I'm just beginning myself. I was having a hard time figuring that out also. Each color is a little different. I went to the dollar store and bought a plastic ketchup dispenser with a little narrow pour spout and a snap on lid. That made it easier to get just one or two drops of solvent into the little dixie cup to mix with the paint. I put it in one drop at a time until I like it. I'm using "mineral spirits".
as some have said here you need talent and patience.if you can muster those things up the big hurdle is determination and perserverance.you need to know that you MUST stripe EVERY DAY for a year to get to where you can make any $$.if youve made it that far your cruisin and every year you get better.some have lost thier lives because of the life style and EASY $$.good luck.
i just use it straight from the can and as i go on i just dip about 1/4 of my brush in mineral spirits and go from there. when i first started it was hard to figure out.
I know there's a ton of striping threads on here, but I always dig when one pops up, always great to see everyone's kickass work.
get yourself an old mag you dont like and use that for palleting. i personally use the brush i intend on using for stripping to get the paint out of the can and dip it in slowly till the brush is loaded. then remove it and brush it in one spot on the mag. i do this two or three times then i personally let the paint sit for a few min to thicken just a tick. from there before you get started pallet the extra paint out of the brush till when you hold it sideways it slowly starts to droop. you should be good to go. i only start adding reducer once the paint starts to dry on the mag. also becareful you will get to a point where you cant add anymore reducer to the paint as the raito is off and it will look like doggy doo. so open you can get some more paint out and go at it again. if you just got your paint and brushes dont think that you will master it right away. as mentioned some people are just gifted right off the bat and some take time to learn how to pallet the brush and apply the right pressure to get the right line width. i have been doing it for a little over a year now and i still think i suck but i still have a line of people wanting me to do work for them. and i practiced on anything i could find for about 6 months before i even thought about doing work on someone else's car. it is trial and error so keep at it and a quick tip. to practice making a peice symetrical use cheap craft brushes and craft paint. you have to pallet a lot more but it gives you a sense of how to pull lines and make them end up where you want them. hope this helps some
As mentioned above. As you thin more and more like karfer67 said it looks like doggy doo, I've also noticed that the color actually starts to lighten up
yes that it does some colors are more apt to do that than others. ivory will turn more white as you thin it. also the lines will not "stand" off the surface as much if it is thinned more.
I'm not even going to go there. I do like to pallet on slick material when I can, but phone books work ok for me. They're free and have a zillion pages. They do eat up more paint, though. I got a quick lesson or two from David Hightower years ago. After the teaching, he said, "Now go home and make friends with the brush." He told me to pull 100 lines a day until I was comfortable. I wish I had time to stripe that much every day, but life gets in the way sometimes. I did this one on the front fender of my bike...
sorry man i had to say it. hmmm speaking of that this is off topic but did anyone read the front editorial in street rod builder this month with the tittle "are rat rods dead?" i would buy it for striping on but why waste the cash? i have not personally tried phone books but the free factor is always a good thing. i think he just needs to practice then practice some more.
Just a hint:Glossy magazines make great palettes(my wife gets at least 10 a day in the mail)BUTnly if you are working with enamel based paint such as 1-Shot or Ronan.DO NOT use a magazine if you are painting with HoK striping paint or any other urethane as the ingredients in the paint and reducers will dissolve the inks in the magazine and mix them into your paint.The reason is most urethanes use the same basic ingredients as printing inks.Use a piece of metal or glass;don't use plastic as the reducer will attack it as well.
I order free car and motorcycle catalogs and if they come with glossy pages I order them every month since I like using glossy pages. Kreaturesccaustin I like the work on that fender very simple looking and hella clean!
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