Pinstriping by Hand - Four Important Points For Improvement

When doing hand painted pinstriping, there are four things that I consider to be very important to your overall desire for improvement. I'm going to assume that you already have the proper brush and you know a little bit about what you are doing and I hope that's not assuming too much.

The first thing is your paint consistency which is critical for uniform and clean line work. Your ambient temperature will have a lot to do with how much you thin your paint and this in turn will effect paint flow from brush. Thinned too much and you may run it, or paint may end up not being very durable. Not thinned enough and your edges will look ragged. I would recommend when thinning paint, that you start off a bit on the dry side then slowly add thinner as you load your brush. Getting the right feel for proper mix is just like everything else, experience is the best teacher.

CARE IMPROVEMENT

The second item is proper handling of the pinstriping brush. Depending on what you are trying to achieve will determine how you should control your brush. For example, with straight line work, you basically freeze your hand and arm in a solid position as you move your body back, gliding your fingers along working surface. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, as with many rules, but for all practical purposes, this will do.

As far as how to hold the bush? This can be done in a few different ways and will depend on what feels comfortable to you. The most important thing is how you work off the tip of your brush. What you are trying to accomplish will determine how you should control brush tip. For example, when trying to get a tight curve, you will have to pull up on the brush a bit while rotating tip into curve. As already stated, experience is the best teacher.

The next item that is pretty important is practice. Now you had to have some idea that this would be mentioned and I wouldn't have wanted to disappoint you. If you want to get good at anything in life, you have to practice.

The finial item, which I think is critical to your overall success in achieving some level of pinstriping competence is...practice! Man, I can't believe I said that again.

Pinstriping by Hand - Four Important Points For Improvement

CARE IMPROVEMENT