Question about materials

[chris.o.saur]

i am in the process of customizing my first mugg and i have a question to ask about materials that you guys use. first, here is a link to some images http://mightymuggsforum.com/showthread.php?t=7950

my first question is about paint markers....there are several places such as the outline between the white and bright red in the eyes that i would definately prefer to use a marker as my hand is MUCH more steady w/ a pen/pencil/marker. are they garbage? obviously i won't use it to paint the major black portions just some outlines.

second question: i used a pencil on my primed mugg to draw the outlines, there are some in portions of the mugg that will eventually be completely white. should i just use a plain white acrylic and do as many coats as it takes or is there another shortcut anyone has taken?

thanks!

[irulan]

on the pencil outlines, you can try using a kneaded eraser to fade the lines a bit, and then use the white over it.

[chris.o.saur]

ok cool. another one....how do you guys make it look so smooth? will enough coats eventually make it look uniform or am i doing something wrong?

[irulan]

yes, if you do thin, multiple coats, it should come out smooth. Just make sure that you let each coat dry completely before painting over it.

[chris.o.saur]

Sweet thanks a lot. Anyone out there have any good/bad experiences with the paint markers?

[flashtestmanalive]

Sweet thanks a lot. Anyone out there have any good/bad experiences with the paint markers?

I used to use them, they......how you say, bust/break/drip a lot. if you're careful they work like a charm, but when shaking or pressing the tip down just be extra careful :)

[irulan]

yeah, if you're not careful, the paint pen will release a lot of paint at once and drip all over the place.

[chris.o.saur]

flash to the rescue. thanks flash, irulan, and lestat. good advice from good muggers.

[chris.o.saur]

oh, i'm using some shitty walmart acrylic paint. this is my first not expecting the world, i don't like them much tho. will better paint feel better? it just feels kinda chalky i guess is the word that i'd use to describe it. thin and chalky.

[irulan]

you should try ceramcoat. I went from using liquitex(expensive acrylic) to ceramcoat, and I liked it a lot better.

[chris.o.saur]

where can i find ceramcoat?

[irulan]

you should be able to get it at a craft/hobby store. It's with the cheap acrylic paints. I get mine at Hobby Lobby

[chris.o.saur]

awesome. even after 3 coats the red around the eyes still have some blending issues. i'm gonna go ahead and blame the paint ;P

[irulan]

well, you always learn a lot from your first custom mugg :)

[Kire von Banhammer]

Most all of my paints are cheap ass acrylics. THe only expensive one I have is red. I hate red. As long as you have a good set of brushes and time to do coats, then any acrylic will be fine

[Green Eggs and Death]

You have to check the "kind" of paint you get, and some of the "cheap" acrylics (I use them, also) aren't too specific on what kind they are. There is Opaque, Semi-Opaque and Transparent.

Opaque is generally what you want. Two or three coats and you're fine. You can easily thin it with water if you need to.

Semi-Opaque will require more coats if you're wanting a fully covered look. (I've noticed more than a few reds are in this category, which helps explain the general difficulty with them)

Transparent is great for a glaze if you want one and a huge headache if you're tryin' for a flat, uniform color.

Like irulan, I (mostly) use the Ceramcoat™, and another advantage to them are that the different types of paint are listed clearly on the bottle.

Also, don't forget to look at Hobby Lobby's and Michaels weekly specials, not only to see if any paint you need is on sale, but also for any discount Coupons. Hobby Lobby has a coupon every week and MOST of the time they're for general items.

[wcb4]

I mentioned them on here once elsewhere, but I've used Permapaque Pigment Pens. They are more like a sharpie, but they lay down pigment more like a paint. No streaking like trying to work with markers and no glops like the paint pens. They're pretty cheap too, about $2 each. Limited colors though.