Hello again.
I’m a little late with my 2nd installation of the PPPP.
Last week I began a two layered flame job on a Dodge truck. At the end I explained how I wasn’t satisfied with the quality of the outline I’d attempted to freehand with a brush. This week I’ll explain and show how I managed to acheive a clean line by cheating with tape….
Okay,
so having failed with the brush I removed all the tape and the paint and retaped the entire right side of the hood and side of the truck. My first hurdle is how to recreate the taped pattern onto the other side of the truck and the hood. When taping out two separate sides of any job it’s okay to have a few differences here and there because minor differences are pretty hard to pick up on when you have to walk from one side to the other to see both sides. The eye and the mind aren’t quick enough or perceptive enough to catch all inconsistencies. The hood though, is a different story since everything is right in front of you. Also, more attention is usually paid to hoods because they are more like a canvas to begin with and most art work, whether flames or something different has it’s main theme that originates and flows out from the hood.
Many graphic artists can free hand tape a duplicate of an original pattern, only in reverse. I can’t. Part of the problem for me is the difference between how my left hand and right hand (right brain, left brain) react to what I’m seeing. My left hand is far less adept than my right. Duh! That difference is why I generally begin flames from the right side of a car, truck, etc. My hands and eyes somehow cooperate more naturally that way :o)
Alright. What I do is to lay white, somewhat transparent paper over the taped out right side and using a large black crayon I sweep over the tape, which leaves a decent representation of the outline underneath. I’m also careful to highlight landmarks, like hood edges, door handles and windows so I can be more accurate in laying the stencil out on the other side…
Once I’ve done this I remove the paper as one large piece and lay it out on a large piece of cardboard. I then use a tool called a pouncewheel ( a glorified, miniature pizza cutter) to trace out all of the lines on the paper. The pouncewheel has little teeth on it that leave a perforated line along the trace route….
Btw, I’m not fond of this part of the process because it’s tedious and time consuming. Imagine doing this multiple times to reproduce multiple layers of an image on a 40′ boat! Great googly moogly :o) Some day I’ll be able to afford the computer and programs, along with a plotter, which is a machine that takes computer generated images and cuts them into stencils that can be applied to any vehicle or object you want to paint on. Till then? We do it the old fashioned way.
Now I take the paper and turn it over and lay it out on the left side of the truck. Making sure to align all landmarks. Especially at the center of the hood. I have a sock that is filled with blue carpenter’s chalk that I wipe over all the perforated lines…
Taking the paper off, this is what I get…
I have to blow off the bulk of the chalk without blowing away the lines because the tape won’t stick to the hood well. It’s a pain in the ass process, but it works.
Here’s what it looks like after I’m done laying out all of the outline and filling in all areas that won’t get painted with masking tape…
So far, so good, right? :o)
Now I take the lilac color I’d mixed up for the outline and spray it inside all my taped lines. After waiting about ten minutes for the color to flash off (dry and flatten) I take the same 1/8″ tape I used for the outline and run it over the whole pattern making sure to place it just inside the outside edge of the original outline. What I’m doing then is to cover an 1/8″ stripe of lilac around the whole deal…
…..
This is a very tedious, time and material consuming process. Which is why I attempted to brush the first flame out to begin with. I wanted to avoid this part.
After finishing the laying out of the outline within an outline, it’s also necesarry to use regular masking tape, in this case the wide, green tape, to cover over the miniscule gap that lies between the original outline and the line I’ve just placed inside of it because if I don’t the next color sprayed on will show up in spots along the lilac outline. With this particular job it’s not as important because this first flame is the same color as the body of the truck and any littrle overlaps here and there probably wouldn’t degrade the quality of the work much, but I like it to be as clean as possible. If I were spraying the flame a different color altogether then skipping this step would make for a totally sloppy and crappy outline as that color would show up randomly between the lilac outline and the body color on the outside edge of the flame outline. Brains hurting yet?! LOL! I know, it can be boring to read all of this.
So, once again I have to go over the entire image…
Finally (yea, I’m just about done!), I’m finished with all the taping for the first flame. I take the original body color, black with pearl added, and spray in the entire flame…
Holy M..M..M..Moly!! That’s a lot of taping! LOL! Better get my ass to pinstriping school, eh? :o) That, or invest in 3M stocks and bonds so I can profit off of all the tape I’m eating up! :o)
Now comes the fun part. The Christmas morning part! :o)….untaping everything and getting a first look at the flame. It’s important not to get too eager to see it all untaped and pull it all off to fast or haphazardly because these paints can be fragile and sensitive and do pull away some times in places you don’t want them to. Regardless of how careful you are though, imperfections in the lines are part of the deal. So, there are touchups to be done before finalizing it and clearing over the entire thing.
Having gone around and cleaned it all up and being satisfied with the way it looks, I go ahead and bury it all under three coats of clear.
…And now, boys and girls, here’s something we hope you’ll really like!!….
A lotta work for one little outline, huh?! :o)
Please join us next week when we do it all over again! LOL! Wait till you see the mess I make with tape then :o)
man! what a tedious process. l guess patience really is a virtue, eh?
very cool though when it’s done. does the owner come by and check on you often, or are they just letting you run with it? l always find that to be extremely annoying, because much of what l have to do to complete a set of construction documents, or a rendering, is tedious as well…with or without computer assist.
next step is the flame interior color[s]…l presume?
Patience is not my strong suit :o) I feel pressed a lot of the time because there are other jobs ongoing at the same time. It’s not helpful to any creative process when you feel pressure to finish something.
This owner has stopped by occassionally but limited his visits to just looking. He hasn’t complained about anything I’ve done. As I’ve gotten further along in this kind of work I’ve found that I’m generally given free reign to create things how I choose to. I don’t know why that is. Maybe it’s a reflection of my confidence as I’ve gotten older and better at what I do and customers trust me to have enough insight into what things they like to be able to interpret what they say they want./? Also, as I’ve gotten older/confident it’s rare when having someone watch me work will bother me. It doesn’t affect me in the least. I kind of feel like a zoo exhibit to tell you the truth and I enjoy performing for the ignorant masses! Haha! :o)
Next step…Actually, next step is to lay out the second set of flames that go underneath of this one. You’ll see how and why I came to regret not doing that one first :o)
Thanks, Dada.
This really cool, super. It looks like it takes a LOT of patience, though.
Thanks, CG.
All the taping is tolerable because you’re always looking forward to untaping it and seeing the result. I swear, despite having done this stuff for so long I still get a little giddy, like a little kid, when it’s time to start unwrapping :o)
Super–take some stars..great, superb job..
Wanna come on over when you’re done? we could use some hands in a restoration project.
Many thanks, idredit :o)
Restoration project? Hmmm.
Where exactly is this over? :o)
Two-layered flame job sounds like what the soon to be ex mister has been giving me lately. 🙂
I can’t believe how much patience you have to possess to do this taping and painting. I can’t even stand to do that around a couple of windows when I paint a room.
Nice job, super.
You tape around windows? :o) I started out working with my Dad, who was a yacht painter, back when painting was still done with a brush :o) Taping straight lines? We don’t need to tape no stinking lines! That is one thing I can do free hand :o)
Thanks.
…and, pssst, get some flame retardent for that arsonist of yours :o)
I hadn’t realized exactly how involved this process is. I don’t think that I would have the patience for it. Another interesting installment, looking forward to the next one.
Oh, I bet you would have the patience to do it :o)
Thanks
There are detail people and then there are those of us who sort of wing with a half-a$$ed plan in mind!
I know of some very slick jack-knives (okay, switch blades) which I would casually open and close as I asked, “So, what do you think about my work so far?”
What a process! Btw, please, call it the “classic method,” not “old-fashioned.” And then raise your prices. 😉
So, can this be done on vertical, vinyl siding? Free form, of course.
:o)
Great comment, Tampopo!
In my case if I manage to have at least a half assed plan before I begin I’m already farther ahead than I usually have hopes of being! Haha! Winging it is just about a standard modus operandi for me!
There are ways to prep almost any surface to accept this lind of paint. So, it could be done on vertical siding or even venetian blinds as you once suggested to me at a rally in DC :o) What a great idea that was! You could even paint two different images on a blind. One as it’s opened, and the other as it’s closed.
Would you consider being my marketing exec? LOL! :o)
Better yet, you could head my R&D (research and development) division :o) We could even have our own Area 51 inspired secret location! Hahaha!
The perforated template and the pounce method is similar to one way of marking quilting designs on a quilt top. Funny how methods translate from one medium to another.
It can be tedious but it works as good as anything. Computer generated patterns are definetily easier, but like most things, easier isn’t always better, and there’s something more genuine about anything created solely by hand. Charachter is, I guess, the word that desribes hand made things.. That’s why I have a low opinion of decals that people now buy to stick on their cars. There’s no variation in the pattern. It’s too perfect. But perfect can also mean artificial.
Thanks for your comment.
Man, never thought it would be so much work!! Next time I see something like that, I will appreciate it more!!!
Wow, Super, that is painstaking work but I bet it’s going to end in a great result. Looking forward to the next instalment!
In knew you custom painted yachts, but I guess I didn’t think about custom painting of yachts having any relationship to custom painting cars & trucks. What sort of designs do people want on their yachts?
Sorry for getting to you late. Yachts and larger (say, 30 to 50 foot) speed boats are two different things. I used to paint yachts with my Dad. Generally they are white with brightwork (varnished teak or mahoghany hardwood trim). Speedboats and their more aggressive cousins, offshore raceboats get all kinds of different graphics. Here are a few different things I’ve done. Unfortunately I haven’t scanned in some of my bigger and better work yet. But this gives you an idea, anyway. The last one is a pic from the Skater factory in western Michigan, where I was flown in to do paint jobs twice by request. Not that I’m bragging you see :o)!
Nice work!