Editing How to pinstripe your car

== Preamble == A comprehensive guide to pin striping your ride, showing you the paint, equipment, laying out and different techniques used in the art of pin striping. Pin striping is accomplished by years and years of practice. [[Image:Doing_some_pinstriping.JPG]] [[Image:Doing_some_pin.jpg]] == Paint and equipment == [[PAINT]] [[Image:One_shot_lettering_enamel_paints.jpg]] What to look for when your buying paint is a paint that is rich in pigment, has consistent array of colors, applies easily, dries hard and durable, and will stand up to the Test of Time. [[Equipment]] BRUSHES Always buy the best brush that you can afford. The following link will show you the different profiles and size of brushes. http://www.kultureshoq.com/mack_brush/pages/original.html TAPE and MASKING In most cases you will be using a fine line tape which is very thin and stretchable. Masking sheets can be used to define a given area that you will be working in. GUIDES and RESTS Pin striping is usually a freehand art form, but using a mechanical rest to steady your hand is an acceptable practice. A wooden dowel rod of 1/2" or better with a styrofoam or closed cell foam 'donut' on one end will allow you to rest your wrist and steady your hand above your work, yet provide you with the freedom of motion to draw your creations. Freehand pin strippers, generally, use their 'pinky' or thumb to gauge distance when pulling a line along a body line of a vehicle. We'll get into this more in the Technique section. MISCELLANEOUS EQUIPMENT A pounce wheel is used to make needle hole perforations in a mask that traces a form or design that you have rendered and it allows you to transfer that design to another area. After placing the mask down in another area, a talc bag is used to strike over the perforations, when the mask is removed; an outline of dots will be revealed to show your pattern. == Layout == For beginners, the best way to start is by drawing a grid of one inch squares on a plain piece of paper. You can make this as big or small as you want, a good size would be about 16 X 24 inches. Draw a defining center line with a darker pen right down the Center of the paper, this is what you will work off of. Next, get a piece of clear acrylic sheet of approximately the same size or slightly larger, this will be your working paper. Tape the lined sheet to a solid working table and then tape the acrylic sheet to the table too. Using a non permanent marker, practice drawing lines that are equal distant off of the center line. Start with a large vertical teardrop in the middle and work off of that. If you goof up, just erase with paper towel and start over. Designs should be clean and simple to start, and with practice you can expand from there until you feel comfortable enough to advance to paint. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. == Technique ==

| Editing help (opens in new window)