# Making Stencils for a Paint Job



## mikesusangray (Nov 29, 2007)

I'm working on a bike for my 13-year-old daughter.

We just picked up a plain blue-anthracite frame, aluminum. It's a matte paint job. (Pretty thin, too - it seems to knick pretty easy.) No decals at all. The seat-clamp, the pedals and a couple other parts are gold colored. We got to thinking that it would be fun to have a very thin golden pea-vine twist its way down the frame with a couple leaves and flowers.

My current idea is to draw the design onto adhesive paper, cut out the design with a sharp knife, stick the stencil onto the frame and use golden spray paint to make the design.

I'm just wondering whether you guys have any experience with this. The more I think about it, the more difficult that stencil is starting to sound. Also, I'm wondering whether I want to (a) do any sanding/scuffing (though that seems mighty tricky, too!) and (b) add a protective clear coat afterwards. 

What's your wisdom?

Do take into account that the thing isn't supposed to be a master piece. If it comes out looking pretty nice for now and ends up with a few chips over the next 5 years, that's fine. So long as the paint doesn't turn into a complete mess. Most of what's worrying me is how to make the stencil.


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## Smokebikes (Feb 2, 2008)

It might turn out better if you use modeling paint and hand paint it.......if you do use a stencil, keep in mind the gold spray paint needs to go on very thin with multiple coats or else it will run.......my guess is that due to the pigment for gold paint the mixture is different than regular paint....don't know why it runs so easily but that has been my experience with gold color spray paint.


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## dbohemian (Mar 25, 2007)

Get some posca pens or similar waterbased paint pens. Draw till your hearts content and then seal with a rattlecan clear.










Hong Kong Phooey!


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## mikesusangray (Nov 29, 2007)

Ha - 

Yes, paint markers to draw the graphic, then seal it with a clear coat. That sounds like a pretty good way of doing it - and a lot less fussy than cutting out a stencil and pasting it properly.

One thing comes to mind: 

She likes matte colors, doesn't like the shiny effect. I was just looking at a clear-matte spray paint for indoor-outdoor applications, metals included - but I have some doubts as to whether that would give proper protection.


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## dbohemian (Mar 25, 2007)

mikesusangray said:


> She likes matte colors, doesn't like the shiny effect. .


huh? how many shiny bikes has she had?....one? 13 and wants the rat rod look already

Just use the matte clear as you suggested. Fact is none of the rattle can clears offer really great protection as they are not catalyzed and shiny or matte does not affect the final result. You could sand the base, draw and then have a pro clear it for you and flatten the finish (there are chemical additives which do this) but if you are to go that route you really should just start over again.


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## mikesusangray (Nov 29, 2007)

Hey - this is one descriminatin' kid!

My LBG has a nice setup with www.price-racebikes.ch - they deliver a frame for custom setup in a while bunch of different colors, and he has a tube if each color on a rack so you can look and choose your fav. The girls* took an immediate disliking to the glossies - though, to be honest, I think they weren't really seeing what a finished bike would look like.

I'm a little unsure about my matte clear, though. It's part of Dupli-Color's "Aqua" line. It even says it gives a "pleasant vanilla odor while spraying" - something I'm having a little trouble taking seriously! Here's a description:

http://www.motipdupli.de/webgate/wg_5_2.nsf/ContentByKey/ISEZ-7P6KKM-EN-p

Mike

* Actually, I was fudgin. It's not my daughter but her best friend (also 13) - sometimes a fib simplifies things a little. My daughter rides a 1990's rewell ti frame that I got super cheap back in the winter of 2007 - I actually got advice on this forum on some headtube damage. Her bike is completely blank ti with a scratch-pad scuff job - taken together, they're drop dead gorgeous! And she rides it every single day of the year. The build job was so much fun that she convinced me to do a bike for her best friend ... ) (Yeah, that's the honest truth, this time!)


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