ghost stripes rookie question

B

bomccorkle

Today while thinking entirely too hard I came up with the idea of putting ghost LeMans stripes on the car. I am going to use ppg DBC blue pearl for my base but am clueless as to how one would proceed. In my thoughts the base would go down then clear then clear mixed with the pearl for stripes then more clear. I assume that the intercoat would play a role here but I am unsure as to what? Sorry for asking such a broad question but I really am clueless.
 
get your base color on then a coat of intercoat clear, let it sit a few hours or better yet overnight. mask off for your stripes. mix your pearl into some intercoat clear and spray. youll want to mix the pearl into intercoat so you get to your desired look in 2-3 coats. unmask and clearcoat the car.
 
Thanks Jim. In doing custom paint do you have a particular pearl you buy or are they all created about equal?
 
i use whatever. most of the time i am using basf since i use diamont here in the shop but i have used an array of others from ppg, hok and even cheap ones from ebay. all basically the same except for how they are packaged. some are dry, some thick liquid paste.
 
Thanks again sir. Another question has just popped in my head. At first I was thinking a blue pearl would be the answer but I now think I may be a bit wrong in my thinking. My car overall will be about a royal blue for lack of a better descriptor. What direction or choices would be optimum colorwise for the pearl? Maybe a red or violet or green even? I guess I should have paid attention in high school when they explained the color wheel.
 
well red pearl always looks pink. violet would work, blue, white, yellow. it all depends on the look you want. a real classy look i would go white or blue. being a ghosted effect remember its only going to be a slight color shifty or reflection from the base color
 
Excellent. Thanks Jim. I guess blue is what I am after. Will it make a difference that pearl is in the base or will my extra in the ghosted areas still show up? Also how or what do you use to tape off?? I was wondering if there is anything to mark a panel with prior to tape to have a guideline to work from?
 
both of those questions are tricky stuff. the pearl will show up over a pearl base but that depends on how much you put on. test panels are the only way to know how much and how many coats. well you can mark a panel but i have tried about a hundred different pencils and products to see what works best on what and comes off easiest. best thing i have found are these waterbased graphite pencils from a company called derwitt....i think. the marks wipe off with windex and will come off of intercoat fairly easliy. white chalk pencils work ok too but you have to go light.
 
Thanks again Jim. Will check into the pencils. What about mixing blue and white pearl on an intercoat? Amazing. Questions I've had for months and I finally found the right place to ask them. Thanks again.
 
you gotta do test panels. it would really only lighten the blue. its just like mixing regular pigments. you mix white and blue together you get light blue.
 
Excellent. Thanks again for all the help. I have a couple old fenders that are prime for testing with I just had no clue as to how the pearl would react mixed. I had assumed you would just see two colors glinting at you thanks for clearing that up for me. I guess next step is to get materials ordered up and get after it.
 
well yes but depends on how fine the pearl is and how close to the surface your looking. if you get real close and analyze it then yes youll see two colors. stand back 5 feet you wont. if its xirillic type pearls then possibly since they are very coarse.
 
Excellent. Thanks for all the help sir. Its been an education to say the least. Where do you start at on your mix quantities for a ballpark beginning and do you go by weight or volume? I'm sure I'll have more bothers for you soon.
 
Sounds like a plan to me I suppose I'll start small and work my way up. Thanks again for the help. I'm sure I'll come up with more questions
 
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