Lace painting question.

Is it practical to reuse the Lace ?


I'm thinking for flat panels,gotta do something just "a little" different.

 

If you shoot your lacquer too dry it will get the fuzzies and tend to soften subsequent uses. No reason not to reuse after the paint dries. himmelberg

 

Is it practical to reuse a condom? You could do it, but...

 

since when has doing panels practical made a difference to the man to is a chemist when it comes to making panels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

There are no flat panels on a car.
OK, maybe a few but not many.
So making it lie down flat the second time on the opposite contour,(I guess that's what you intend, doing both sides. or just moving it to do two colors?)
The first shot of paint/lacquer is going to fill some of the fine openings in the lace and they do show on the virgin use, but the second use it will become a more simple translation of the lace with less detail.
If that's ok you might want to seal the lace before even the first coat
The paint will shrink as it dries, possibly putting warps and wrinkles in the lace, so do some test samples.
Hey, the best paint tricks going were accidents and accidental "experimentation"
Like,
Cobwebbing I think is done with enamel reducer in lacquer, or is it lacquer thinner in Enamel?

We did a lace paint job on the sides of our parts Chevyvan back in the 70's at the Olds dealer... Then caught hell for it because it was a leased truck!

 

Ian: I don't think it would be practical to use lace more than once.To get it to lay down on a flat panel,spray it with some really cheap hair spray very lightly and then position it on the panel.Spray over it lightly with long overlapping strokes.
One of the hardest things about doing lace on a flat panel is trying not to pull the lace too tightly in any direction as it will readily show up in the finished product. Ideally,lace should be used in a relatively small area within the perimeters of a panel such as the top or sides of a motorcycle tank.Large areas tend to obscure the pattern as the eyes can't focus on all of the panel at once.
Another technique I used to love to do was acetylene painting.For those who don't know what it is:Mask off an area similar to what you would do for lace.Then,using a torch,open just the acetylene side until you get a goodly amount of sooty flame,then wave the torch of the unmasked areas of the tank or fender at pretty close range in a random pattern until you have a design you like.Quickly turn off the torch and get the object away from the area to avoid any unnecessary particles floating in the air landing on the work.
If you are not satisfied with the design,wipe it off with a dampened(with w&g remover)rag and try again. A WORD OF CAUTION HERE!!! If you are doing a tank that has previously held gasoline,make sure it is COMPLETELY sealed off before lighting the torch!!! A vapor filled gas tank exposed to a flame will put you in the next ZIPcode in fragments!
After you have a pleasing design,very carefully apply a couple of tack coats to seal the design,pull the masking and clear over everything.Outline with a contrasting stripe if desired.
HMMMMMM! Sounds like a possible Tech article.