So Far, So Good!
Dec. 29th, 2002 06:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikThe stencils had a few logistical problems to be worked out before the concept would work. The solution to making them more durable was to find/use a middle cardstock that was just barely capable of being fed through the printer and getting a good cutting mat and new X-acto blades to do the trimming. It was still a pain to cut, though. Hand-cramps suck!
The little lines that were in the design wanted to curl up and away from the surface. I discovered this while testing the stencil on the side of an old black trashcan I had. The fix here was to buy some of the stuff I remembered from my media-classes in college: movable adhesive spray. Spray the back of the stencil, slap it onto the surface, roller-press it flat, and voila. No spray-under. The first spray also leaked under a bit due to capillary action in the cardstock, but that was self-fixing. A coat of paint or two sealed it right up. I also tried it with gold-metal paint to see if that was better, but discovered the white will work the best in the long run.
So, I slapped the stencil on the first case, grabbed the spray can, and gave it a go.
The first one went well enough that I went ahead and did the other two. The big case is the brand new one; the other two are 1.5 and 3 years old, respectively. They were a bit more scuffy so more of a challenge for the paint to stick. I cleaned the parts I was painting on before attacking them.
I'm quite pleased with the results, and still a bit astounded they don't look like total butt. I got a little underspray through the masking on the red case, but it doesn't look too out of line. The latch-corner colors are the 'type' designators: Blue for photo optics, Red for telescope optics, and Green for outdoor/camping/adventure gear (in this case, the binocs). I'll probably end up with 2-3 blue cases, 3-5 greens, and maybe just the one red unless I find some money to get back into amateur astronomy properly. If I need more categories, hey, there's many more colors out there.
They're far from done. I still need to do a 2nd (or 3rd) coat on the ID colors (using a brush and acrylics as suggested by the art-store guy), print out a stickypaper name/addy/ph# tag to apply over those dratted Pelican case logos, and then clearcoat all the parts I've colored. I'm still a bit miffed pelican changed their logo-tags. In the past you could peel 'em off safely; now they're on permanent and the only real recourse is to cover them with your own.
The colors and logos are only on the lids. The undersides and bottom take most of the abuse as those are the surfaces they're most often stacked or slid upon. I'll use the open space left on the lid and the other case-surfaces to put on stickers, doodles and whatnot from different jobsites or adventures they go on. With luck, they'll look properly 'experienced' within a few years.
And thus ends the craft-projects for the weekend.
The little lines that were in the design wanted to curl up and away from the surface. I discovered this while testing the stencil on the side of an old black trashcan I had. The fix here was to buy some of the stuff I remembered from my media-classes in college: movable adhesive spray. Spray the back of the stencil, slap it onto the surface, roller-press it flat, and voila. No spray-under. The first spray also leaked under a bit due to capillary action in the cardstock, but that was self-fixing. A coat of paint or two sealed it right up. I also tried it with gold-metal paint to see if that was better, but discovered the white will work the best in the long run.
So, I slapped the stencil on the first case, grabbed the spray can, and gave it a go.
The first one went well enough that I went ahead and did the other two. The big case is the brand new one; the other two are 1.5 and 3 years old, respectively. They were a bit more scuffy so more of a challenge for the paint to stick. I cleaned the parts I was painting on before attacking them.
I'm quite pleased with the results, and still a bit astounded they don't look like total butt. I got a little underspray through the masking on the red case, but it doesn't look too out of line. The latch-corner colors are the 'type' designators: Blue for photo optics, Red for telescope optics, and Green for outdoor/camping/adventure gear (in this case, the binocs). I'll probably end up with 2-3 blue cases, 3-5 greens, and maybe just the one red unless I find some money to get back into amateur astronomy properly. If I need more categories, hey, there's many more colors out there.
They're far from done. I still need to do a 2nd (or 3rd) coat on the ID colors (using a brush and acrylics as suggested by the art-store guy), print out a stickypaper name/addy/ph# tag to apply over those dratted Pelican case logos, and then clearcoat all the parts I've colored. I'm still a bit miffed pelican changed their logo-tags. In the past you could peel 'em off safely; now they're on permanent and the only real recourse is to cover them with your own.
The colors and logos are only on the lids. The undersides and bottom take most of the abuse as those are the surfaces they're most often stacked or slid upon. I'll use the open space left on the lid and the other case-surfaces to put on stickers, doodles and whatnot from different jobsites or adventures they go on. With luck, they'll look properly 'experienced' within a few years.
And thus ends the craft-projects for the weekend.
