Client wants Spray Painted words on painted brick

[btropical.com]

clear paper with vinyl copy for overhead projecter shoot it at wall at night make pencil outline paint next day

 

[Craig Sjoquist]

If your going to spray ..... spray a light coat... like misting ... for several coats ... less bleed then
You say it's up high try it on a less windy day if possible
Bring plenty duct tape only stuff that sticks well for awhile

 

[Gino]

Okay, you're gonna do it your way afterall.

What color is the painted brick and what color is the lettering going to be ??

 

[pure_media]

The painted brick is a light pink, the client wants a mid to dark blue.

 

[Gino]

Then take light pink paint along to cover up your drips and runs.

Be sure your rattle can paint won't eat the brick paint away.... by testing it somewhere where no one will notice it.

 

[pure_media]

I think we'll go with brush painting instead of spray paint, i'll be able to control it better. I'll talk with someone at Home Depot about which paint would be best.

 

[Jillbeans]

Blue will more than likely need a few coats, as in my experience the primary colors are always transparent.
Glad you are not going the spray paint route, and I am sure you will be glad too.

 

[G-Artist]

Wow thanks guys!! G-Artist, thats a great explanation and I will consider doing that. It's pretty high up on the wall and I think my employer wants to go with a vinyl mask and a quick paint job. I'll be gentle and even, with enough coats that it will last for some time. It's very simple lettering and only 6 letters about 10" high.

But awesome! Thanks for all the input!!

I gave you the quick and dirty way. We still have a 8' x 10' electro pounce
setup on a wall in the back shop. When I started doing pounce by hand I had
a 4' x 8' sheet of something (can't recall the name) that was a soft building
material item that we made bulletin boards out of (used for push pins) and
used that for years as the surface to pounce on. If anyone can enlighten me
as to the name that would be great. All I remember it was sort of a dark-deck grey color.

Opaque projectors (I still have a few) are a definite option...but... to ensure
correctness the unit really need to be virtually level with the application spot.
That isn't always easy. The stories I could tell about that!!!

I see everyone has a method. What I never thought about and 'pure_media'
sort of alluded to was using a latex or acrylic latex paint as I have always enamels.
Mostly One Shot and sometimes Ronan. Cleaning up mistakes might
be a lot easier with that type of paint. Always count on Murphy's law being ever-present
when in the air doing wall work. A spray can is easy but not as long-lasting as brush/roller.

Don't rush the job. And any job worth doing is worth doing well - the first time.

 

[Gino]

Don't get your paint at Home Depot. There's no one there who knows what they're doing except how to mix colors. Besides, that's not lettering paint. If you're gonna do it... do it right and use the correct tools and supplies.

Get Ronan or 1-Shot.

 

[pure_media]

As you can tell, I am new to this industry and I am learning every day. I thank all of you for all of your suggestions and am looking into each of them.

Gino, I'm looking into 1-shot, there is a distributor close by that would hopefully have what we would need.

haha G-Artist, yeah i bet there were some interesting optics playing along with a projector that was angled a little more than a few degrees. A projector sounds like it'd be a good choice but this is going to be about 15 feet up a wall, and the projectors area little out of our price range at the moment. But i think i got the jist out of your explanation of the pounce method. Thanks.

Jillbeans, thanks for the suggestion again. How long do you usually wait for a second coat? 1-shot is saying 12-16 hours for the Lettering Enamels to recoat.

I'm sending 1-Shot an email of what they suggest and I will hear back from them, hopefully soon.

I'll deffinitly let you guys know how it turns out when it's all done. We're shooting for next week sometime. Thanks

 

[OldPaint]

sending 1shot an email???? WHY??? people here are telling you ......USE 1 SHOT or RONAN!!!!
reason is....THESE ARE LETTERING ENAMELS!!! proper tool for what you are attempting.
NOW, that being said, the only thing you dont have.......EXPERIENCE, using that tool.
with that in mind...............your in for a lot a leanin'hehehehehehehehe!!!!!!
1. DO NOT THIN.........1SHOT or RONAN in this application.
2. PROPER BRUSHES........ another thing you will need to learn. FITCHES, if you never heard of em..........DO SOME RESEARCH. good one are not available at the local wal- mart. good ones arent CHEAP!!!!!
3.cleaning brushes...............if ya buy good ones, you will want to keep them a long long time. i have 1 fitch, i got from an sign guy who passed on.......and he had it for 30 YEARS!!!
4.FOAM BRUSH, some applications..........these work better then a fitch.
5. SMALL ROLLERS....... great on flat surface, but in this job.......i think would make a mess.........
6.NOW.......buy the time you buy porper tools, get the paint, learn how to make a POUNCE PATTERN...............are ya gona make any money, for the time, material & tools, you will probably NEVER USE AGAIN!!!!!!!!
7. find an old "sign painter", give him the job, and ask him to teach you...........and PAY ATTENTION)))))))

 

[GB2]

When you are talking about projectors for this type of work, what projectors specifically are you refering to? I've looked at the Art O Graph Super Prism and the Art O Graph Design Master II for this purpose but having not ever used one I'm not sure of these choices. Does anyone have suggestions for a better style projector? How would a regular digital projector work, projecting a digital file rather than a hard copy image?

 

[RebeckaR]

One Shot and a 4" foam roller to fill in the big places.

Ah, there's nothing like being a noobie sign painter 20 feet in the air with sticky black (or dark blue) paint running down your hand and into your armpit.

Good times.

 

[Jillbeans]

GB I just use a projector I got from an office supply store.
The kind the teacher used in school.
Most of my wall jobs are now Ronan.
http://www.ronanpaints.com/graphic.htm
I really like the bulletin enamel and it dries fairly fast.
I have had too many 1S failures, especially with red and black, in the past 5 years.

 

[Gordy Saunders]

I wouldn't use an oil base paint (Ronan or 1-Shot) on a latex paint. Though 1-Shot does make a water base paint. You need to know what kind of paint the building has been painted with. I would assume it is a Latex.

I made the mistake early on of using an oil base sign paint on a latex base and had peeling problems that occured very quickly.

 

[Fitch]

There are many ways to to this:

However only one will last many years..... the rest will damage your reputation for years.

Get some vinyl, cut it, lay it on the building, trace with a pencil, remove the vinyl and paint the bloody thing!!!!!!!! BY HAND double coated.

Six letters 10" high should take 2 hours max.

LISTEN TO GINO!!!.

Cheers - G

 

[Jillbeans]

Tracing vinyl letters is actually a great idea.
That way you won't have to worry about paint seeping under the mask.
Cut in with a fitch, fill in with a bigger brush.
I wouldn't use a roller because they make overspray too.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Really? Got to be done by hand with One Shot to last? Got to use squirrel hair fitches, made by Hungarian monks, lovingly rubbed with oil of next to keep them soft?

I must be living a charmed life because almost EVERY wall I've lettered has been done using vinyl as a mask and rolling the acrylic latex paint. The only times I've used enamel I've used Rust-O-Leum Industrial Coatings stuff. My first wall, painted with acrylic latex from Home Depot, which faces the sun most of the day, is holding up great.

The only "failure" I've had is one I painted at about 10:00 one night that got hit by a random shower around dawn.

OP and Gino, have you ever actually tried acrylics? You know, they've come a long, long way since WWII when you first tried them and dismissed them. One-Shot, on the other hand, appears to have gone in the opposite direction.

 

[btropical.com]

hit up craigslist for used overhead projector ,, practice on piece of drywall or sheet of plywood ,, might look like crap from close up buit from far away gonna look fine , do yourself a favor hire it out

 

[Gino]

Pat.....

I know many sign painters that use and like acrylics for all of their work. Some changed over and some started right out with acrylics. That does not mean they are the best, the only method or the new kid on the block.... it's just a personal preference.

I'm an old dog and generally stay with what I know and what works. I have almost 40 years in this trade and I've used oils for almost everything. Back in the 70's and early 80's, I used a lot of acrylics for van mural painting. Yep, we'd sand down a van, air brush with acrylics because they dried so fast and cut all of our detail in with oil and then about 20 coats of clear. Didn't matter what you used when you cleared like that.

I'm so accustomed to.... and feel 100% at ease using what I know works and will always treat it as such. I have walls I painted last for 25 years and other than some dullness..... doesn't show my strokes. I have truck doors and regular signs that have lasted well into 20 years of service.

I don't know of any acrylic painted signs that have lasted much over 7 or 8 years.

Again, I've been around this game a long time and when I started doing it professionally, the idea behind signs was to make them last forever. Businesses lasted for decades using the same name and people had roots, and for the most part, stayed close to where they started. No one ever heard of having to replace a sign after 3 to 4 years for any manufacturer's weak reason of materials not lasting. We were never bothered with all of the idiosyncrasies that are associated with the joy of making signs today. This is not a lecture, but a fact...... it was hard wrapping my head around the fact, that in order to go computer.... I had to give up any idea of a sign lasting much more than 6-7 years..... and that was if I was lucky. I felt the computer was a tool and supposed to make our life easier, but all it did was to give a new type of sign maker the ability to come in to this industry with less eye to hand coordination and drop the value of signs to almost nothing.

The computer is a tool.... and today with the crazy software and printing & cutting devices has turned this trade around and not for the better.............. just for the lazy.

So, the trick about all of this is.... do you want to survive in this world of computers of the sign trade.... or just tell people the easiest way to go about various tasks.... which isn't always the best way ??

I guess the difference is....

• Do you like Ice Milk or Ice Cream ??
• Do you like coffee or decaf ??
• Do you like hard wood floors or plywood ??
• Do you like a Porsche or Ugo ??
• Do you like the opposite sex or surfing the net ??

It's all about preference and I talk about the ones I know.... and are familiar with in using. Having easy clean up or easier flow does not equate to a better method, just easier for the person doing the work.