Was Painting On Ripstop
Maddys Two
From: kic...@eskimo.com
Date: 7/30/98 11:17 PM BST
I tried to download this file, found in the recent painting on ripstop thread,
and I get a "unable to download because of parental controls" message.
What's up with this?
Any clues?
Roger
Maddys Two
<<One of my favorite teachers::::::::::footnote////// Roger Maddy:>>
Here's another, I think at least visually better if more technical and
equipment oriented, approach to painting both nylon and Icky type
ripstop
fabrics. The great advantage here is transparrency of the dyes as
apposed
to the rather opaque colors of the Design Master paints.
The attachment less formatting *********************
As an introduction of myself, I have been actively flying and building
kites since 1985 when my family and I just happened to pass through Long
Beach, on the Washington Coast, during the Washington State
International Kite Festival. We met a warm and generous kite flier from
Oregon, Sonny Hamner, in the campground where we were staying. Sonny
invited us to go down to the beach with him the following morning to try
out his new stunt kite, a Team Hawaiian, then a state-of-the-art new
high tech kite. Katie, my wife, still has the reputation all over the
west coast of being the only person to ever crush the backbone of a
Hawaiian, accordion style, in four places during a single crash. Eleven
years later, our lives would not have been the same without our
involvement with kiting. We have been active in the AKA, WKA (Washington
Kitefliers Assoc.), AOK (Associated Oregon Kiters), the Fort Worden
Kitemaker's Conference, and have served as officers in our local club,
SCI-FI (Snohomish County Incredible Flying Individuals). Hey, sometimes
you have to really dig for those acronyms!
After serving as president of SCI-FI for the past two years I have now
semi retired to the position of Newsletter Editor, which is even more
work! That's sort of how your editor, Mike Nelson, and I met over the
internet on the "rec.kites" usenet group. Some weeks ago I had "posted"
in response to a couple of "threads", one regarding painting Dupont
Tyvek kites and the other dealing with methods of painting nylon and
polyester ripstop fabrics. Mike e-mailed me last week to ask if he
could use my brief descriptions on the net, of techniques that I've
used, in your newsletter and even offered that we could share some
articles between our two newsletters. I'll try to keep part of my end
of the deal here by expanding some on these two different methods for
painting kites.
Acrylics on Tyvek
Last year, SCI-FI sponsored a series of workshops. In one of these
workshops, Don Mock, whom you may know by his large North Coast Indian
inspired kites (see American Kite and Kitelines), taught a class on
building a five foot rokkaku kite from white Tyvek. In the following
month's workshop I taught a technique of painting Tyvek using artist's
acrylic tube colors which, quite honestly, I had first fully tested only
two days before. This technique derives at least partially from similar
methods that railroad modelers use to color, detail, and weather plaster
rock castings, model structures, and weather rolling stock.
Tyvek has been painted, traditionally, with latex house paints by many
kitemakers. Latex paints are much the same as artist's acrylic (latex)
pigments. They both dilute with plain water and dry to a durable,
waterproof film in which opaque pigments are suspended. Where the
artist's tube acrylics excel is in their high concentration of very
finely ground permanent pigments and in the availability of more
saturated, pure colors. This is particularly true in the primary colors:
RGB and CMYK (Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black). If
you're not familiar with color theory forget all that! Just remember
that you can make any color or shade by mixing various amounts of only
two primary colors at a time and black or white. Experiment. Even
talented artists spend lots of time just experimenting with color mixes
to get just what they want.
Tyvek is quite water repellent and the pigments will tend to bead on the
surface when diluted with plain water. However, we can make water
"wetter" by adding regular liquid dish soap to our dilution mix. Clear
plastic drink cups make great mixing containers. Add about a half
teaspoon of liquid detergent to a cup full of slightly warm water and
mix to fully dissolve the soap. Take another plastic cup and squeeze
about an inch of acrylic pigment, straight from the tube into the bottom
of the cup. Then add from five to fifteen "eye-droppers-full" of your
wet water, depending on the strength of the particular tube color. Mix
it well with the same small brush that you'll use for application.
You'll have to experiment here a little with each color. Have lots of
scrap Tyvek around and make a series of test patches on a sheet, each
with progressively greater dilution of the same cup of color. Try to
find the range of dilution that progress from a smooth flow of opaque
color, that's not too thick, all the way to a very dilute "wash" of just
barely perceptible color. If the more dilute washes start to bead on
the surface too much, just add some more detergent directly to the mix
until it flows smoothly. After you have an idea of how single tube
colors mix and flow at different dilutions you can try some combinations
of colors. Don't be too surprised when two beautiful colors mix together
to make some really ugly brown or grey sludge color. It's often better
to lay down a wash of a single color, let it dry completely, and then
modify the color with a partial over-wash of a second color.
Acrylic tube colors can range in price from $2.00 to over $18.00 per
tube depending on the color and tube size. Grumbacher colors are the
highest quality but more expensive. Liquitex colors are less expensive
and work great. You may even find a cheaper brand locally. Use the
cheapest color you can find. I know my kites probably won't end up in
the Louvre', so whatever works is fine. You'll probably want to have
available a range of brush sizes, dependent on the size of line and
detail you want in your design. A good Japanese brush of small to medium
size is indispensable for line and detail work, particularly if you want
to work in the Japanese style. These taper to a very fine, long tip of
horse hair and are almost always bound into a bamboo handle. We found
that artists soft bristle "rounds" from 1/8' to 7/8" were very useful
for fills and washes. You'll almost never find much use for any brush
over one inch in width or diameter.
Play around for quite a while with the Japanese brush and some "Mars
Black" diluted so that it flows easily but is still opaque, sort of like
a heavy ink. The Japanese brush is wonderful for fine lines, lines that
increase in width with length, and very expressive flips and flares. Use
a very light, controlled downward touch with a smooth, flowing, rather
rapid horizontal movement. Then try some jabs at the surface, starting
at the point and pulling down, and then stopping the motion at the
ferrule of the brush with the hairs feathered. Then, for fun, give it a
twist and flick it off to the side at the same time. Cool, huh? Now, if
I could only write in Kanji.
Most of the kites we've done with Tyvek and acrylics have been copies of
traditional Japanese designs. Tal Streeter's book "The Art of the
Japanese Kite" is an excellent source. If you have web access, do a
Lycos or other search on the term "Ukiyo-e" and you will find a wealth
of downloadable, traditional Japanese block printed imagery including
many prints of famous Kabuki theater actors so typical on many
traditional Japanese kites. Simply project a slide image onto a wall
where you can tape or pin your Tyvek kite and trace the design onto the
Tyvek with a soft pencil. Do your painting on a horizontal surface to
avoid runs.
When painting your design, start with the lightest washes and colors
first, then progressively darker and more saturated colors, and finally,
the darkest lines and black. In this order, a darker or deeper color
will always cover and cleanly mask each previous layer. Lighter washes
or colors over darker ones will only tend to fog out the darker color
where they overlap. It's a lot easier to clean up a sloppy edge with a
nice black line as the final step.
One last tip that I would like to pass along but have yet to try on
Tyvek myself is that water soluble acrylics can also be diluted and made
to flow "wetter" with "denatured" alcohol. Don't try to use rubbing
alcohol, that's different. One is ethyl alcohol and the other is methyl
alcohol. I'm sorry I don't remember which is which right now. If any of
you give it a try let me know what happens. Acrylics dry with a fairly
flat finish. I coat the whole surface, after thorough drying, with a
solvent acrylic spray like Krylon Clear Gloss Fixative, to give the
whole kite a nice finish. Krylon and similar products come in matte,
semigloss, and gloss versions. Also, when you go to your local art
supply store to get acrylics, you will see associated products like
matte and gloss mediums and transparentizing medium. These are used to
extend, dilute color, or make acrylics more transparent and have great
value for extending the range of color and layering effects possible on
a tyvek surface. If you're interested, try adding these to your
leftovers and do some more tests on scrap Tyvek. The possibilities are
almost limitless!
Airbrushed Automotive Solvent Acrylics on Ripstop
Another kite painting technique that I first started testing and
experimenting with in July of 1993 involves airbrush painting on white
or colored nylon (Carrington) or polyester (Icarex) ripstop with clear,
solvent acrylic lacquers, the type used for automotive finishes, colored
with transparent dyes.
It all started when I was helping a neighbor repaint his truck using
these finishes. He was doing one of those metal flake and clearcoat
finishes; you know, the kind where the finish looks like a two foot deep
pool of colored glass. Usually an opaque base coat of a shade of grey or
even white is applied first, then one or several layers of clear lacquer
filled with reflective metal flakes, followed by several coats of clear
lacquer colored with solvent based transparent dyes. Knowing that many
ripstop fabrics were originally coated with acrylics to give them their
finish and reduce porosity, the proverbial light came on. "Hey, this
stuff will stick to ripstop, and, it's transparent!" Ripstop coatings
now may be acrylic, polyester, polyurethane, polypropylene, or
combinations of other modern polymers but all are compatible with
solvent acrylics.
At that same time a few kitemakers were first using florist's spay
colors on kites. The florist's sprays are used to color dried flowers
and weeds in floral arrangements and can even be used to color fresh
flora. But their drawback is that the colors used in the florist's
sprays, while quite permanent on ripstop, are opaque pigments rather
than transparent dyes. Opaque pigments create color by how they reflect
different wavelengths of light falling on them but, mostly, block any
light passing through from behind. These early attempts looked great on
the ground by reflected light, but the saturation of their colors was
dulled in the sky when sunlight, coming from behind, was partially
blocked by the opaque pigments. This will be apparent when using
artist's acrylics on Tyvek also, since these are also colored mostly
with opaque pigments. Transparent dyes, however, modify light passing
through them by filtering out some wavelengths of light and almost
totally passing other colors (wavelengths). As in pre-colored ripstop,
the filtering takes place once for transmitted light, the light that
comes from behind the kite, and twice for reflected light, the light
reflected back off the surface. That's why a kite looks darker, with
more saturated colors, in your sewing room than it does back lighted in
the sky.
Before I get too far we should talk a little about airbrushing. An
airbrush is nothing more than a miniature air powered spray gun. Some
airbrushes can produce anywhere from a 2mm line to a broad fog effect.
They are available in single and double action models with various
interchangeable tips for different spread patterns and come in internal
mix and external mix versions. Some brushes use siphon or pressure
material feed, or both. They typically only need a small volume of air
at low pressures so a large compressor is not necessary, although a good
quality regulator with moisture and particle filters is very beneficial.
You can even run an airbrush from a really pumped up spare tire and
regulator, with a homemade hose adapter made from a used "Fix-A-Flat"
can, for quite a while without even owning a compressor. If you've never
used an airbrush before, start with a simple single action brush,
available at a local hobby shop or art supply. Badger (brand name) has
one, a single action, siphon feed type with an air hose and material
bottle that sells for less than $80.00 (US). You can pay much more, of
course. You should also be able to find a similar model at any Sears,
Roebuck, and Co. store.
I won't go into airbrush technique in detail here, but would suggest
some practice first if you've never used one before. Practice with some
inexpensive airbrush paints and paper, using the guides that always come
with a new brush. An art supply or hobby shop will also be a good source
of how-to books on airbrushing. Basically, all paint application effects
are controlled with varying air pressure, dilution of the paint, volume
of paint flow, distance from the surface, and speed of your brushing
stroke. Hard and soft edges can be controlled using "friskets" or cutout
masks on or at varying distances from the painted surface. Frisket films
are available with a removable sticky back. And there are even special
frisket knives with swiveling blades for cutting intricate patterns and
curves in frisket film. But engineering drafting mylar, masking tape,
paper, cardboard, and an exacto-knife are all good substitutes.
The clear lacquer that I've used is PPG Industries, #DCA 468, "Duracryl"
Hi-Performance Clear Acrylic Lacquer. A notice on the can stipulates
that the product is intended for use by professional car refinishers
only and is not intended for sale to the general public, but I had no
problem purchasing a quart can for $18.56 ($24.13 List) at a local auto
paint, body, and detail supply shop. The associated PPG dye pigments
come in pint (16 oz.) or quart (32 oz.) bottles in a variety of primary
colors. They are very expensive so it's best to talk your supplier into,
like I did, selling you small, four ounce quantities in your own
containers. The dyes are so concentrated that four ounces of each
primary will be sufficient to paint at least ten big kites. Normally
they would custom mix your colors into the clear acrylic right in the
store just like custom house paint mixes at a hardware store. I found
that I could mix almost any color from the three additive color
primaries; red, green, and blue. I last obtained four ounces each of PPG
red #212 for $19.05, green #217 for $15.40, and blue #216 for $14.48.
That red would be about $152.00 per quart, but you'll be measuring it by
eye-dropper drops, so four ounces will go a long way. Find containers
for your dyes that just hold the quantity you buy and have very tight
fitting, screw-on lids. Store the containers upside down to minimize
evaporation.
Later on, you may want to obtain some other dye colors that approximate
the subtractive primaries; cyan, magenta, and yellow. I'm trying to
keep this article as short as possible so I won't go into color theory
here. But, if your interested, find one of the Eastman Kodak Co.
publications that deal with color theory in a local photo supply or
camera shop. Most encyclopedias that you can find at your library should
also give enough understanding to get started also. Look up "color",
"chromogenic", and "tricolor". (I know that Mike ...{MKS only}... can
point you in the right direction too.)
The instructions on the can of clear acrylic call for a dilution of
150-200%, with PPG solvents, for painting your family Lamborghini. That
would be 1.5-2 parts thinner to 1 part DCA468 lacquer. The solvents are
sold in different evaporation ratings for different shop temperatures in
the auto painting industry and are very expensive. I've had perfectly
fine results using plain old lacquer thinner from the hardware store. An
airbrush, however, requires a much thinner mix to perform well. I have
found that, using a Pasche' VL-B external mix double action airbrush,
that dilutions of 300-400% of the out-of-the-can lacquer work well for
air pressures from 5 to 15 psi (pounds per square inch). That would be
3-4 parts thinner to 1 part DCA468 lacquer.
Normally, the lacquer is pigmented with dyes at a ratio of 1-3% of total
volume. For soft shading on ripstop, where we are using fewer layers of
lacquer, I found that a dye concentration of 5-10% was more suitable.
More saturated colors can be achieved with dye concentrations, in the
already thinned lacquer, of as much as 18% of the total volume of
lacquer. Anything from the lightest of fogging effects to color more
saturated and brilliant than the brightest commercial ripstop colors can
be achieved with smooth gradations.
I first make up a thinned mix of clear acrylic and solvent that spays
nicely in a two to 4 ounce glass airbrush jar with a tight fitting lid.
If you don't use all of this in one session store it, tightly capped,
upside down to prevent evaporation. Color mixes may be stored for a
limited time this way also. If you don't store it upside down the very
volatile solvents will escape through almost any lid seal very quickly
making the mix unusable even a couple of weeks later.
Then I will use an eyedropper to make the final color mix. Count how
many drops are contained in a full "eyedropper-full". A 10% pigmentation
of a mix would then be one eyedropper-full of dye to nine eyedroppers of
diluted acrylic lacquer, or one drop to nine drops mixed right into a
material cup. A Material cup is a small, usually less than one ounce,
open topped cup that plugs into the siphon feed opening on the airbrush.
Some airbrushes can also use a two to four ounce bottle with siphon tube
that fits into the same opening on the body of the brush. An 18% mix
could be 18 drops of dye to 82 drops of lacquer. Or, if I know that a
full eyedropper-full of lacquer is 20 drops, I could use 18 drops of
color and four full eyedroppers plus 2 drops of lacquer. Divide all of
these examples by two, three, or whatever for proportionately smaller
total quantities. I would recommend testing your mix for the airbrush
with several progressive dye concentrations on scrap white ripstop. Keep
a record of the mix proportions written right on the test piece of
ripstop with a waterproof felt marker. This will be very handy later as
a reference for future color mixes.
This testing stage would also be an excellent time to experiment with
different airbrush effects. A very low air pressure, say 3-7 psi, and a
fairly heavy flow of material will produce a spattering effect. The
material flow is usually controlled by unscrewing a knob at the rear of
a single action brush or pulling the finger control further backward on
a double action brush. The pressure is controlled at your regulator or
compressor. Try spraying along the edge of a cardboard or heavy paper
mask, held right on the white ripstop, with a light stoke to produce a
hard edge. Then vary the distance from the brush to the surface to
decrease the amount of lacquer reaching the surface and gradually
decrease the intensity of color away from your edge. Also try producing
a soft edge by holding your mask or frisket slightly away from the
surface, letting some of the pigment to fog under the edge. To build up
more intense, saturated, color it is usually better to apply multiple
light coats rather than one heavy application that would be more prone
to running.
I have found that it is far easier to obtain smooth, even fields or
graduations of color on ripstop that is flat and unwrinkled, prior to
sewing into, say, an appliqué' kite although I think that some method of
stretching an already assembled kite skin could be used to flatten
wrinkles and facilitate smooth airbrushing.
I would caution anyone experimenting with these materials to thoroughly
read the instructions and warnings on the containers. Make sure you use
plenty of forced ventilation. The vapors are extremely flammable and
volatile, and you should judiciously use protective vapor masks and
gloves. The lacquer and solvents contain various toxic additives,
plasticizers, resins, ketones, toluenes, acetone, and esters. Some of
these are known to cause cancer and neurological damage as well as birth
defects in situations of prolonged occupational exposure. Hey, we don't
want any pickled, mutant kitefliers out there so be careful!
I must admit here that I have not, as yet, actually built and colored a
whole kite with this technique, except for airbrushed shading of flesh
and hair colors in an "Uncle Sam" (pointing) appliqué design on an
eighty square foot parafoil built by Terry Lee for Pierre' Langlois.
It's that new! Although, I have tested the permanence by washing
several of my test pieces and a couple of smaller paintings several
times in a machine with my regular laundry. Also, a piece left in the
sun on my roof for almost a year, held down and partially covered by
some thick plates of aluminum for comparison, have shown almost no
deterioration of the original colors. The exposed ripstop itself started
to become deteriorated and brittle, though, from the extended
ultraviolet exposure.
I do have a kite designed, a ten foot Edo using a combination of acrylic
lacquers on both white and colored fabrics and appliqué, but have yet to
complete it. It will be a rendition of Sukaroku (S'-ker-ro-ku), a very
well known Kabuki theater character, done in a traditional (except for
the technique) pose and style. Some of you may even get a finished
airbrushed kite in the air before I do. Boy, I've finished all the
patterns, have friskets made, even have the bamboo "bones", as Japanese
kitemakers call their spars, and all of the fabric is on hand. I better
get to work!
Have fun,
Mike Eason
Dawnkites
In a past Kiting issue, there was an article by Felix
Cartagena (I probably have the name totally wrong
here) about using Design 2 markers on a clear film
(Orcon I believe) to make 'stained glass' effects for
kites. ANyway, I contacted the company and purchased
the dye they use for the markers in quart bottles.
It works well on ripstop, doesn't require heatsetting,
is translucent, and comes in 200 + colors. The biggest
drawback- it's expensive. $ 22 a quart. A quart goes
a long way tho.
Dawn W.
EDrakeTig
"kite plans books" of things to do and try. So often we get bits and pieces of
info rather than the whole thing. Thanks again
Beth (tigger from oregon)
Michael L.Eason
before I am! Originally, as alluded to in the article, I have only found
the time to test the technique. But I really feel it has a lot of promise!
I'm glad that you find it equally as promising. If anyone has time to
create a *real* kite with this starting information, please send me a pic
and let me know how it worked and additional insights found. I still hope
to develop this more, but it may be a year or more, yet, before I really
have the time, or more recently, the resources to continue.
My original plan was to use the dye/solvent-acrylics(automotive lacqueres)
to shade and blend basically appliqe'ed panels/graphics of various standard
colors on a kite, the technique could very well be used to do a totally
airbrushed graphic design on white nylon or polyester (Iky) ripstop, with
only masks/friskets to help delineate hard edges. (Those familiar with
airbrush techniques will understand, others can find info at any local
library.) Wow, a totally clean, clean white canvas! Though I'm not sure if
I, myself, have the talent to do it this way! ???
I have, since posting this, learned that anyone with "AO Hell" accounts
(get a real ISP and pay less for greater bandwidth) have great difficulty
reading even attached text (.doc), even though it is MIME compliant and
quite small (23K). If anyone in this situation would like a copy, email me
please. I'll print and send by snail-mail!
--
NOTE: To reply click 'reply' as usual, then edit the NOSPAM
portion out of the 'to:' e-mail address.
Michael L. Eason, Media Specialist, Interactive Media Designer
Everett Community College, Everett, Washington, USA
and: Kichiwa Graphic Systems, Lake Stevens, WA, USA
WEBtv KITE
>I have, since posting this, learned that anyone with "AO Hell" accounts (get a
real ISP and pay less for greater bandwidth) have great difficulty reading even
attached text (.doc), even though it is MIME compliant and quite small (23K).
If anyone in this situation would like a copy, email me please. I'll print and
send by snail-mail!
Hi Mike. I have Nestscape that I sometimes use. You can set it up to make it
appear like you are anybody from anywhere. My son, John (age 26) has an AOHELL
account that I sometimes use. Two of my best friends have WEB TVs that I use
when I am at their house. I work part time at a Toy Store that has an internet
account with their local tely company.
Rodger Maddy
Gene
I wanted to try for some time to airbrush ripstop, I was told it might be
imposible as the paint might not immediatly absorb and end up running and
smearing all over the place.
What about trying to print on a sheet of ripstop with a colour bubblejet,
inkjet or dye sublimation printer and then sealing it with something like a
silicon spray afterwards?
hmmmmm.....
Michael L.Eason
printer first. I think it's Cannon that has a cotton cloth transfer
material stuff, whatever they call it. It is attached temporarily to some
sort of paper reinforcement I believe. They also have a heat transfer
material.
The beauty of the solvent acrylics is that they are the perfect coating for
ripstop nylons and polyesters. In fact, it's they same kind of material
used to "coat" and seal the surface of the raw fabric. Some early ripstops
used acrylic coatings but they're all sorts of high tech polymers now.
--
KitesRFun
wonderfully translucent.
I've tried a few different paints and was VERY surprised at what was one color
on the ground, looking at it, then turned virtually black in the sky when back
lit. Ya just gotta experiment, but I am a Design Master fan.
Steve Rezac
Las Vegas, NV
Kite...@aol.com
<With no official relationship to any commercial kite enterprise...I gotta buy
'em, build 'em or beg 'em to fly 'em>
Michael Lathrop
experimentation with airbrush on ripstop in the late 80's.
The use of automotive paints was one I used to like, but in hindsight
wholeheartedly reject - the ripstop just can't take it over time - now if
you want a kite to last a year or two, well, I suppose it's fine, but
personally, if I'm going through the trouble of making the thing, I'd like
it to last.
Probably the most successful technique I came across was using "Dr. Martins"
air brush colors - a water based translucent paint. Yes, I said waterbased.
The trick here is an additive that is available, originally intended for use
in T-shirt painting, the polymer additive is heat-set after completion of
the painting of the design. I used a commercial-type hot-press on the
ripstop to set the designs. The "Doc Martins' Method" offers several
advantages; It's long-lasting (I have some that are nearly 10-years old and
still look "fresh"), The colors are very vibrant - but can be used very
subdued if desired. Being water-based - you can "fix" areas prior to
heat-setting, and, my favorite feature, the paint keeps translucency, but
deepened tone with additional coats of paint - this gives the ability to add
lots of depth.
Some of you "old timers" may remember the festival-commemorative kites I did
with this process were auctioned off at various east-coast festivals and
competitions in the early 90's along with one each for Seaside AKA in 1991
and the first World-Cup.
I mention this to attest to the waterproofness (is that a word?) of this
method.... Upon our arrival to Seaside, we had set-up the World-Cup kite in
the hotel room to show it off to some visitors. Sometime shortly after the
unavailing, some Captain Mogan's rum was spilled on the opposite edge of the
same window ledge the kite was leaning against, by this time it was a room
full of people so nobody noticed this for a quite a while. By the time the
spill was found, most of the liquid had found its way along the ledge and
run down across the face of the kite. About half the airbrushed design was
now best described as "carmel-coated"... I picked it up, ran it under the
shower and gently rubbed luke-warm water and a few drops of dishsoap across
it until "clean" - I left it set open in a unoccupied room overnight and by
the next morning it looked as good as new. (whew)
Anyway, point being - it does work, it is waterproof and looks great - wish
I had some decent pictures to show - the only one I know of is on an old
web-site of mine... (I think this was the first of the Dr.Martins painted
kites I showed in public) check it out at :
http://www.todayindeathcare.com/ml/kpho3.htm
Michael Lathrop
Michael L.Eason
on for either airbrush coloring or brush/wash coloring, blending monochrome
B/W silver prints. Thanks for the info re: the additional polymer additive.
The additive is probably an elastomeric acrylic (also water based). Does it
require heat setting for it's permanency?
However, the solvent automotive acrylics with transparent dyes (also from
the auto-finish trade) are actually much more permanaent than the nylon or
polyester ripstop itself! Long term sunlight tests (ultraviolet light is
what fades normal integrated color in ripstop) There is no lack of
adhesion, actually improves air permeability resistance, imparts a real
nice gloss to the surface of the fabric (like NEW ripstop, but permanent!),
and is still vibrant and unfaded even after the nylon or polyester fibers
of the fabric have totally broken down from ultra-violet exposure. Ever
left a kite in your shop window for more than two months, facing the
afternoon sun? You end up with nothing but brittle, faded flack (pulverized
when touched!) that was once beautiful Carrington or Ikarex! As a matter of
fact, in several test pieces, the Carrington that was protected by the
solvent acrylic polymer color, as apposed to an adjacent area of
uncoated/un-colored area for comparison, the colored /coated area was still
dimensionally stable while the uncoated area fell into flakes from
exposure. How dimensionally stable I don't know, wouldn't trust it for
inclusion in a newly sewn kite of course! But this was after a year of
exposure on a roof! Talk about stress testing!
One question that I might ask about Dr. Martins dyes reguards the ease of
reaching a relatively saturated effect. I know that it is quite easy, using
the extreemly saturated dye concentrates available for automotive Tri-Coat
finishes (albeit expensive), to exceed the color saturation available in
any ripstop fabric by almost double the intensity of colour. Think of the
most saturated (brightest, most intense color) ripstop you can remember,
double that color depth and that's close to what solvent dyes in clear
solvent lacquere ripstop can attain on white ripstop. Of course, why
duplicate or surpass the regular kite fabrics that are available? They're
wonderful the way they are. The advantage of airbrushing is to subtly shade
and blend already existing ripstop colors within an applique', or to
reproduce details via friskets that would be nearly impossible by applique'
alone.
My experience with Dr. Martin's dyes, though on albumin and geletin
substrate monochrome photographic prints only, has been that their
intensity and saturation, while perfect for photographic prints, would
leave a lot to be desired on the much larger scale of kites. But then I
don't know as I have never tried them on ripstop. I have a box Dr. Martin's
colours downstairs. I'll try some experiments tonight!
My other concern would be cost! At $2-3 bucks (US) plus for one ounce
bottles for Dr. Martin's Dyes, and considering the number of coats that I
believe would be required for the neccessary saturation, it must be
terribly expensive for a kite of any size (over 1 ft.^2). Maybe I'm
wrong???
This discussion is GREAT! Let's talk more. Yes, I need to get some pics
too! Will work on that.
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