My 14 y.o. daughter has expressed a desire to learn how to stripe. Since Christmas is coming up, I thought that I might get her some supplies to get her started. I know that everyone uses one shot so I plan on getting her a couple of cans of that. What kind of brushes would be good for her to start with? Will she need thinner for the one-shot? What about instructional books? Anything else that she may need to help her get started? Any recommendations on where to buy this stuff? How about web sites we can look at. Thanks, Rick
Hey Rick, Real cool that she is interested. I asked the same question a little bit ago and here's what I just ordered: http://www.xcaliberart.com/kit.html I also ordered Hannukaine's book and an Excaliber 0. For a more basic kit I would get a Mack 0 & 00 green ferule, the Hannukaine book, a few cans of 1 shot, and a couple of different widths of striping tape maybe. Tell her good luck & we want to see some of her work.
Eastwood has a bunch of stuff. I use mack brushes. They work good. Brush size i use are 0 and 00. They are nice and thin and leave a nice line. My parents bought me a video and that helped me out a lot when i was beginning. Tell her to take her time and practice almost everyday!! Nate
I liked the selection here: www.moseart.com/products.htm You can check out this thread from yesterday as well... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Cat=&Board=UBB1&Number=244358&page=1&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=14&vc=1 BYC
I use mineral spirits for clean up and vegitable oil to help thin the paint a little bit. I've been told that lin seed oil is best. I also oil the brushed after each use. I've been told that mink oil is the best but any non-senthetic oil will do. I just started learning myself but here are a few things that i've learned : the angle from the tip of the brush to the contact surface is very important because you should only be using bout 1/16 to an 1/8 of the brush the rest of it is really just to hold paint. You need to be able to feel the brush "drag" I mix just a drop of oil to the paint to get this(lin seed is what you should use) and it also keeps the paint from trying to dry on you. this is important because when you bring two lines to a point if one is drier it will look overlayed instead of just one line. Practice on glass: the paint wipes off pretty easy so you can kindof correct mistakes also when its dry you can scrape it off and do it again. If you can get good at striping glasses(such as drinking glasses) you should be able to do just about anything. I would get some linseed oil, mink oil, and one or two saber brushes and one dagger. I've been stripping everything from my wifes mirrors to the refrigerator. Have Fun and merry Christmas.
McLogan Downtown L.A. sells all the colors, reducers and Mack brushes, Coast Airbrush has it too. I'd suggest stayin with the Blue threaded Macks, the green ones are touch up brushes and don't work to well, for me anyway. John Hannukaine's book is a Good one to have. Seek out the old Von Dutch and Roth how to videos, informative AND entertaining. Most Important is Practice! I picked up my first striping brush about 6 years ago and am still learning.....
Do NOT put vegtable oil,motor oil,salad oil,suntan oil,or Marvel Mystery Oil in your paint. It will not dry properly,and it will not stand up to the weather. The oils used to make Alkyd enamels are considered drying oils.Like Boilded Linseed,they react with Oxygen to polymerize. Vegtable oil,and the like,do not polymerize.That is why they are used for storing brushes.They stay wet to prevent the minute traces of paint left in the brush from drying. Imagine this: Put 1 drop each of 1-Shot Enamel,Chromatic enamel,Boiled Linseed,Penetrol,Smith's Creme,vegtable oil,motor oil,Canola oil,and Mineral oil and a smooth hard surface.Come back 2 days later.Which ones have dried? 1-Shot,Chromatic,Boiled Linseed,Penetrol,and Smith's Creme. Now come back 2 weeks later. The ones that hadn't dried after 2 days still havn't dried.They won't dry,they can't dry.Adding them to Enamels will screw up the chemistry that makes the paint work properly.And a job that doesn't stand up properly,ruins your reputation,and reflects badly on the rest of the trade. Tramp Warner says: "If I have to pay over $10.00 for a small can of paint,why am I going to add something to the paint that only costs $5.00 a gallon? It's not worth risking the quality of a job worth several hundred dollars,and your reputation,trying to save a couple pennies using the wrong materials." 1-Shot sells High Temperature Reducer specifically for reducing Enamels.If you must add something to slow the paint down further,use Penetrol or Smith's Creme. Check the TechOmatic for everything you need to know about Pinstriping.
My pal, drummer and pinstriper, Rikki Rockett sent me this info when I wanted to get my start... I found it to be super helpful. I pasted his reply to my similar question below... I asked him about the mister J kit that I saw, about brushes and paint, etc. ______________________________________________ Stacey, Mr. J's pinstriping kit really isn't a freehand striping kit. It's template oriented. Pretty cool, but not what you'd expect. The rest of his fine products are awesome. Sorry Mr. J! I use both Mack and Xcaliber. Depends on how long of a line I need to pull. Mack series 10 is great for long lines and the Xcalibers are great for smaller and tighter design work. Some folks use one or the other exclusively. This pinstriping stuff really dips into an almost "fine art" category. The line, the brush stroke, the unique quality in every piece, all that stuff is what makes it great. Still, it really is a craft like tattooing, so there isn't total freedom. O.K., enough philosophy! H.O.K. is great stuff, less toxic. But, harder to work with in some ways. It leaves a mark if you have to wipe it off. You don't have to clear over it, but it isn't as tough as One Shot if you don't clear over it, unless you mix hardener/catalyst with it. Then it's pretty damn good. One Shot. The standard and for a reason. It lasts forever and has a longer working time. More toxic though and I mean really! It's one of the last lead based paints out there and if you don't have ventilation, your teeth will fall out! I use both H.O.K. and One Shot. I usually use H.O.K. when I do a panel and know I will be clearing it. The reducer in the H.O.K. reactivates slightly and looks really nice when cleared. I use one shot for striping scooters, cars, helmets, etc. Anything that won't be cleared that I am striping "in the field" type of thing. I still use the H.O.K. "00" reducer to mix and H.O.K. Medium reducer to pallet when I use One Shot. It dries faster with this stuff. The "00" is also the best for cleaning the brushes. However, there is nothing wrong with good old fashioned mineral spirits. I use that too, sometimes. Easy to find. Hell, some people use gasoline! Mr. J's brush preservative is fantastic, by the way. Sure, you can use transmission fluid or whatever oil, but this stuff is really nice. Of course, like Uncle Bob told me, "I can get Tranny fluid at the 7-11 at 1:00 a.m. in Sturgis! Try that with brush preservative!" Here are some links to supplies: Coast Airbrush's Pinstriping and Lettering page: http://www.coastairbrush.com/pages/88.html Tony's Pinstriper.com: http://www.pinstriper.com (Tony is a great guy. Tell 'em I sent ya!) Mr. J's site: http://www.xcaliberart.com (Great brushes, great guy! Tell him I sent ya too!) Sid Moses: http://www.moseart.com (Clunky website interface, but lot's of stuff.) Onward... Books are great for ideas, but video works better. Live is the best! Find a striper around town and ask if you can watch! (Yikes! Try not to give the wrong impression!) You'll find that every person has their own way. Many times, they think it's the only way because that is the way they know. If they are amazing, their way may be pretty damn good, though! Ya gotta start somewhere. Listen and watch. Some folks won't want to help and consider it as job security. Whatever! Insecure stripers are no fun! Bypass them. Folks that really love striping will usually try and help new comers because it makes them feel like they are passing the torch. • I use the plastic medicine cups that Mr. J and Coast Airbrush sell. Not as cheap as dixie cups (always use unwaxed if you use Dixie cups and always triple them up. They do degrade and fall apart from the reducer if you don't.), but I also use them for airbrush paint and you end up using less paint because they are smaller. • Get a cheap clipboard and clip an old magazine to it. Use this to pallet. • Use three cups. One to clean the brush. Second to pallet. Third for the paint. • Find a cookie sheet. They are cheap new and even cheaper used. A couple of bucks. Make an area for your brushes that are wet and a place for the paint cups. You can even lay the clipboard with the magazine on it. If anything spills, the cookie sheet catches it. You can dip brushes that will sit for awhile into the reducer and sit it on the cookie sheet. • Metal/aluminum panels are great for practice. You can get them at www.coastairbrush.com (black, white and bare aluminum are available.) Or, paint whatever the hell you feel like! Just try and use something smooth and flat at first. • Try simple strokes and simple turns. Turns are the tricky part. • Pick up a few "Stabilio" pencils in a few colors at a fine quality art store near you. They are waxless, greasless and you can lay down the basis for your lines with them. When the paint is dry, you can wipe off the pencil lines with water or diluted paint cleaner like "5 Star Wax and Grease remover" available at auto paint stores or Coast Airbrush. The "Rapid Prep" that Mr. J sells is good too. Use either on these over the entire surface of what you about to paint to remove dirt, grease, etc. • Get a few sheets of 3M scotch pads. These you will use in certain situations prior to striping to make the paint stick well. Use only if you are going to clear afterward as they will scuff the surface. These are just a few things to make your journey easier. Here is a quick article by Tony about getting started. http://www.pinstriper.com/faq.htm There are some good videos out there. Steve VanDemon has a really good one. He uses H.O.K. and Mack brushes. Maybe I'll do an online thing. Good luck! Rikki
WOW.. A ton of great info... just so happens that I'm local to Coast Airbrush... they're only about 20 minutes away. I'll make a list and go down there tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes! Thanks Everyone!
The Jalopy Journal
