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Step 3Creative Tips.
- The plaid on the Cannondale was done by smoothly wrapping masking tape around the tube. I started the tape at what looked like a 45 degree angle to the tube and rolled it around kind of like bar tape. I did the two brown stripes that face one direction. After it dried I removed the tape and laid new tape perpendicular to the first. I did the same for the thin white stripes but with a smaller gap between tape strips. If your tape stats getting closer together or spreading apart while you wrap you can carefully smooth the opposite edge to guide it back one track
- The checkerboard spiral was done using little square stickers I found at the hardware store. They were sheets of numbers in this case. The size of the sticker dictated the pattern size which is why I had a gap left over where I put the Twain quote (when you mess up get creative!). I already had the tan base color so I placed a spiral of stickers where I wanted that color to show through. Then I laid the next color and placed sticker next to the first row. I did this for all the colors until only one row was not covered with stickers and I sprayed the last color. Then I pulled all the stickers off very carefully with the tip of an exacto.
- When doing a pattern you should plan out all your layers and decide what order they need to go in. I could have sprayed all the brown stripes in the plaid at once but that would have made my masking job much harder. I separated them by color and direction and decided that I wanted the white on top.
- One trick that really saved me time was using freezer paper to cover the panels I wasnt working on at the time. This allowed to panels to dry while I worked on the third. I rotated the paper wraps after I each layer on each tube. I wrapped the freezer paper waxy side in so it wouldnt stick but I still waited 30 minutes after spraying to wrap a tube.
- For the Mark Twain quote I wrote it on a piece of masking tape to check the sizing. Then I copied it on a piece of carbon paper and lightly traced it on the tube. The ink you see is actually just blue sharpie which turned out kind of metallic on the bike.
- Another thing I like to do for text is use a reverse stencil. After the primer I spray the area where the lettering will go with the color I want it to be. Then I put down some vinyl sticker letters and spray the rest of the bike its final color. When I pull off the stickers I have nice clean lettering showing through in the color I wanted. You can get fancy by having a sticker shop make you a custom window sticker with whatever font or logo you want. Make sure you get the stickers that are letters cut out of vinyl and not a big rectangle with letter printed on it.
- No design is impossible. I thought the plaid would be impossible when I thought of it. Just picture you dream paintjob in you head then try to plan out how you could make it happen. Its like a puzzle!
- The checkerboard spiral was done using little square stickers I found at the hardware store. They were sheets of numbers in this case. The size of the sticker dictated the pattern size which is why I had a gap left over where I put the Twain quote (when you mess up get creative!). I already had the tan base color so I placed a spiral of stickers where I wanted that color to show through. Then I laid the next color and placed sticker next to the first row. I did this for all the colors until only one row was not covered with stickers and I sprayed the last color. Then I pulled all the stickers off very carefully with the tip of an exacto.
- When doing a pattern you should plan out all your layers and decide what order they need to go in. I could have sprayed all the brown stripes in the plaid at once but that would have made my masking job much harder. I separated them by color and direction and decided that I wanted the white on top.
- One trick that really saved me time was using freezer paper to cover the panels I wasnt working on at the time. This allowed to panels to dry while I worked on the third. I rotated the paper wraps after I each layer on each tube. I wrapped the freezer paper waxy side in so it wouldnt stick but I still waited 30 minutes after spraying to wrap a tube.
- For the Mark Twain quote I wrote it on a piece of masking tape to check the sizing. Then I copied it on a piece of carbon paper and lightly traced it on the tube. The ink you see is actually just blue sharpie which turned out kind of metallic on the bike.
- Another thing I like to do for text is use a reverse stencil. After the primer I spray the area where the lettering will go with the color I want it to be. Then I put down some vinyl sticker letters and spray the rest of the bike its final color. When I pull off the stickers I have nice clean lettering showing through in the color I wanted. You can get fancy by having a sticker shop make you a custom window sticker with whatever font or logo you want. Make sure you get the stickers that are letters cut out of vinyl and not a big rectangle with letter printed on it.
- No design is impossible. I thought the plaid would be impossible when I thought of it. Just picture you dream paintjob in you head then try to plan out how you could make it happen. Its like a puzzle!
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http://www.flickr.com/photos/55583638@N07/5185855738/
i don't remember exactly how long it took but i was only gonna do one tube like that at first but i figured what the heck and went all in. project over a couple days.