Silver Leaf & Pinstripes on a 62 Impala

My first pinstripe job since we got to Cali! The job was to lay some silver leaf designs on the hood, trunk and sail panels on this 62 Impala, then chase them with black pinstripes. Day 1 was spent applying silver leaf and brushed on clear. I like to wait a day in between leaf and stripes so that everything can be nice and dry. Day 2 was spent laying down the black pinstripe outlines and expanding on the design. We're talking about maybe adding another color to the designs when I go back to do the long lines down the sides.

The Moto Lady Helmet

Jeff of Saint Motor Bikes gave me this silver metal flake helmet to jazz up for our mutual friend in Portland, Oregon- The Moto Lady. After emailing with her a few hundred times, I had enough info to go on to get started. The reason for the vast number of emails was basically the creation of the Moto Lady logo on the back. I'd sketch out an idea, email it to her, she'd make her revisions and we'd move on to the next drawing until we landed at this one. And a fine one it was. Early on I had decided that most of the pinstripe design was going to go around the logo, so the logo had to be designed and lettered first. Once it was down, it was a simple process to allow the design to take shape with the logo as the center piece. I ended up using 1 Shot Black, Ivory and Bright Red, along with the use of synthetic gold leaf to complete the helmet. Everything came out suuuuper cool. I snapped a bunch of photos and sent them off to her for approval, and she returned them back to me in this beautiful package.

This is the Moto Lady:  http://themotolady.com/

More Pinstripe Practice

I swear I have a regular job with many many many hours every week devoted to my jobs. However, in order to maintain my sanity and keep up with practice, I try to as frequently as possible break out a blank panel and experiment on it. Today's experiment was a combination of things. Not all panels make it to the end like this, but this one did. So I started with a panel painted really bright orange. Next, I used a stabilo pencil to draw out the design I wanted to fill with gold leaf (faux). After the design is done, I brush in a mix of Sepp brand Gold Leaf Adhesive, a little 1 Shot Imitation Gold (for tint), and a drop or 2 of Mineral Spirits, using a Mack 10 series #1. I brush it in freehand instead of using tape to outline the design- I find that in each subsequent step not having the tape edge helps a lot. Now the gold leaf adhesive (or "size") has to setup to its tacky point... with this stuff it takes between 3-4 hours. After the adhesive is at its proper tack, I applied loose leaf gold leaf over the entire design. With loose leaf there is a bit more mess, but I feel like the leaf lays smoother. Once the leaf is well pressed into the adhesive, I clean off the excess with a make-up brush and careful rubbing. As soon as I was done I took a drill equipped with a velvet end and turned the leaf. Faux gold leaf doesn't turn really great, but it turns Ok. Even this isn't the best example. Once the engine turning is done, I use the same Mack 10 series #1 to brush clear coat over all the leaf. The brushed clear will go a little past the leaf, but with no tape edge leaves no built up edge to outline. After the clear was set-up I outlined everything with 1 Shot Process Blue and added a little to the design as I went along including some floating borders using a Mack 10 series #00. Once the blue was dry, I went back in with 1 Shot Aqua and added a little more to the design and to the straight lines using the same brush. Even tho the gold leaf didn't come out exactly the way I wanted, everything else came out great. Outside the colors really jumped. So here's a panel that made it alllllllllll the way to the end!