I've got a friend who wants to paint his car using a metallic purple base with red and blue pearls to achieve an effect where the car looks purple in regular sunlight, but shifts red or blue in different lighting or viewing angles. Personally, I dont' think it would look all that fantastic, but he does what he wants. This guy's never painted a pearl job before, and I think he doesn't really understand what he's getting into. My questions are as follows; hopefully someone can help answer them. What's the proper method to lay down a pearl paint job, ***uming the car gone through the primer and block sanding stage? Are there any good "how-to's" or sites on the 'net that outline painting with pearls? (I've not have much luck finding any). Specific books or magazine articles would be good too. Would it even be possible to achieve the effect he's wanting without it looking like ****?
contact your local PPG paint store/they have seminars that local shops can attend- well worth your trouble....hands on experience instead of a story told then wondering what and why.
Painting pearls is a bit tricky. Not as demanding as candy painting, but there are still things you need to know and follow. The old lacquer pearls were harder to do, the new ones spray easier, but you don't get the same effect as the old ones, tho you can do some things that can help make them look better. In the old days, after laying down a smooth base (very important) you would put on multiple DRY coats of clear with the pearl in it. Now we are talking about FLIP-FLOP pearls here, interference pearls in modern talk, NOT color pearls. There is a difference, color pearls are a solid color mica, while flips are clear, with a color that appears when the light hits it at the correct angle. The coats of pearl would be put down in alternating patterns, similar to the old candies, front to back in the first coat, up and down in the next, and perhaps at a 45* angle on the third. This is to prevent patterning (tiger stripes) in the paint. The modern paints are not as fussy as the old ones, but remember this anyway, it couldn't hurt to pay attention and be careful about how you lay down the paint. The reason for spraying dry is to put the paint on, and let the pearl flakes dry quickly, standing up in random angles. When the paint dries too slowly, the flakes have a chance to settle out, and lay flat, and won't reflect light properly. The modern custom paint systems use a special clear (HOK's intercoat clear, SG-100, for instance) that dries very rapidly, and freezes the pearl flakes in random angles. Using a 'real' clear, won't work as well. You can use similar products from regular paint manufacturers,as well, if you aren't using a custom paint system from start to finish. Using Dupont base coat, then putting dry pearls into a "jamming" or cut-in clear will produce good results. Always put 'real' clear over the top to protect the pearls. Aside from the technical stuff, putting red and blue over purple will result in a very subtle color shift. It may not even be noticable. When you mix 2 colors of pearl together, you really don't see the individual colors, it looks more like if you mixed them AS a color....blue + red = purple. Purple pearl over purple base doesn't show up very well. You will see individual flecks of color looking close up, but not from any distance. If you want the separate colors to be more pronounced, I would suggest mixing separate batches of blue and red, and putting them on different areas of the car. Perhaps blue on the flatter parts of the panels, and red on the curves. Then you would see 2 different color shifts. In any case you need to do test panels to see how they work. Try all the different variations, and see what you like. If you are using dry pearls mixed into our own clear, you'll have to do them anyway, to be sure you have the correct amount of pearl to clear to get the effect you want. Too little, and you don't see it, a bit more, and you get a nice "it's there-it's not there" look. More, and you see the color all the time, and even more, and it starts to get cloudy. So work out your pearl mix, and amount of coats first on test panels before doing the car.
Nice post chopolds...anyone interested in painting pearls should pay close attention to these "pearls of wisdom" from someone who has obviously been there, done that...
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