Hello there!
I’ve been behind the scenes working hard on quite a few projects and of course, I have made a record of each of them.
Today I show you…. THE AIRBRUSH!
This is a project I am wrapping up. Last night I sprayed all of the black and today I pinstripe around the edges in FIRE RED!
Here is what we have so far….
Amazon Prime is AWESOME for getting work items in FAST. Here I have one shot lettering paint, 1/4″ 1/2″ 3/4″ masking tape, and squirrel hair liner brushes.
Here I am reshaping a number I formerly painted. The silver lines between the black tape and the painted number will be integrated into the entire number.
My work area where measurements and taping happens.
Finished Left side
I hold the tape on my wrist and use two hands to control where i place it. This gives me a continuous flow of tape for edging.
Here is where the racing stripe will be. I use the smallest size masking tape.
Work area …. Taping, measuring. Sketching.
After a couple coats….
Number taped off with Martha Stewart tape
First finished number…. I see some spots I’d like to fix…. RETAPING will commence tomorrow.
Sketch out #92 on tank with white stabillo pencil
Completed right side of tank… ready for pin stripe!
notice the ripples inside the tape. Never ripple on side where paint is going. The paint will find a way under the tape. The reason for the twist inside is to make the other edge more circular.
My new squirrel hair striper brushes!
Remove the tape with caution. All of that time spent carefully taping can be ruined quickly if tape is pulled up too fast or the blade you are pulling the tape of with cuts the tank. BE CAREFUL.
An example of how the ‘paper wing’ protects the tank
Time to peel off all of my carefully placed masking tape.
To make a circle with a thicker tape…. slice on side every so often to create places to BEND tape.
Ready to spray my number! Say goodbye to those little silver lines!
Take the bulk pieces out of the negative space BEFORE you take oft the carefully placed edging around inside of hole.
My make-shift airbrushing booth. I covered the walls around me and have a fan blowing fumes out window. Lots of lamps to watch for imperfections in my paint.
Ahhhh…. I love my new #92!
Racing stripe masked off and paper wings added to protect tank from over spray.
Total number masked off first time
Here I have 3 sizes of masking tape to work with.
The way I taped this off works well. The ‘wings’ I taped on protect the numbers on each side from any over spray while I paint the racing stripe.
See the protection the paper ‘wing’ gives the number below it.
Cover the remainder around the number with blue painters tape before adding your paper wings.
After making your perfect circle fill the remainder of inside of the number with bits of black tape.
Completed Racing Stripe from driver’s view.
Front end view of Racing Stripe
Notice how the tape curls inside the nine. I do this firs to make a perfect circular edge against the inside of the nine hole. After I have a perfect outer edge tape circle, I fill the inside with a larger size black tape.
When taping your number be sure once you leave the detail area, fill the rest with a cheaper painters tape and add a paper bib with TRACE paper or any other paper that won’t bleed paint.
Here is a few items I will be using… a variety of tapes…. seeing that most airbrush work is “perfection of tape” rather than “perfection of paint”
Masking off the first time…. the masking tape I used here was a Martha Stewart brand. Because it was thicker than the latter black one I used I had to slice the side of it that didn’t line the number so the tape would turn with no bumps for paint to pool under when the number gets sprayed with paint.
Peeling back the blue.
Racing Stripe all Painted.
When pulling off the tape, ALWAYS pull AWAY from the paint. If it is not ready to stick it will pull up with the tape. Be careful you don’t pull off any of your paint.
I hope you enjoyed my photo story…. I will upload more after I pin stripe red.
Have a great day!
Erin
