Hi,

Just did my first pearl spray. It was a rough job just to see how it will go.

4 coats white base

4 coats green pearl mixed with clear

2 coats clear

Video quality downgraded when uploaded.. not sure why.

http://vid1081.photobucket.com/albums/j ... 163634.mp4

looks good. maybe lighten up on those pearl coats a little in the future so your ground color shows through ?

PainterDave wrote:looks good. maybe lighten up on those pearl coats a little in the future so your ground color shows through ?

Thanks for the advice.

Any tips on how to do it?

Was a bit bummed that base coat doesn't show through more.

Less pearl in the clear, lighter coats, or fewer coats. You are just going to have to play with it until you can consistently get the effect you want.

Practice and patience.

BeoBob wrote:Less pearl in the clear, lighter coats, or fewer coats. You are just going to have to play with it until you can consistently get the effect you want.

Practice and patience.

Hi,

Yeah i was thinking two coats pearl instead of four.

But, at two coats the green shimmer still wasn't as much as I wanted it to be.

At four coats the shimmer is there but kills my base coat a bit.

keep at it you will figure it out. i usually do 3 very light coats of pearl and mix it relatively weak. pearl should be a "effect" and not drown out your base

PainterDave wrote:keep at it you will figure it out. i usually do 3 very light coats of pearl and mix it relatively weak. pearl should be a "effect" and not drown out your base

Do you spray one coat diagonally and one vertically or all in one direction?

I sprayed all vertically and still had great coverage

i go the length of the pane but never diagonal.

you could probably spray that little panel you did any way you like and it not matter. i train my painters to use the same practice on little things as on bigger jobs. that would be my advice. paint horizontal

I don't know your skill or experience level. But this is an advanced pro level concept. Like 5 times more difficult than getting a silver metallic base coat down right.

You can get variations in the pearl effect by varying spray direction, gun angle, and the amount of material laid. In most cases this happens by accident, and shows up as a darker or lighter splotch or lines (tiger stripes) in the pearl when the sun is at just the right angle.

But it can be used as an intentional effect also. This is done by spraying only in one direction and running the gun at an angle to the panel. The idea is to get the pearl to all lay in the same direction. The effect is pretty awesome when done right. But it only shows up under the right lighting conditions. To get it right you have to be very consistent. Gun angle, speed, overlap, and the amount of material laid in each pass are all very important to get an even effect.

I can get it to happen, but have not been able to repeat it consistently. So I keep the gun at 90 degrees to the panel and spray in more than one direction to avoid this being a problem. But I'm working on small pieces, not whole cars.

I'm just getting started with the custom painting thing. I have painted 100+ test panels just like yours with different pearls. Getting the paint to lay flat and glossy was easy for me. Learning how to create effects using pearls, flake, and candy is the fun part. And that's why I'm doing this, for the fun of it.