Custom Paint Tricks - You Name It We Flame It

We’re now ready for colors. Utilizing only environmentally friendly HVLP spray equipment, we’ll be applying four shades of PPG’s DBC base: Yellow, Orange, Oranger, and Poppy for the tips. DBC is tolerant of what could be considered over-reduction– more to come on that.

We’ll skip the test panels as we’ve used these colors before and we’re certain that they’ll blend together smoothly. The idea here is to achieve coverage with two coats of yellow. Our next colors up will be over-reduced as necessary to achieve smooth blends at low pressure.

With our first color applied, and gun cleaned and reloaded, we’ll continue to shade some over-reduced orange after testing our spray pattern. We don’t want under-atomized droplets to spoil our blends. Extra reduction and smooth well-planned movements are the keys.

Working from front (center of hood) to back, we continue blending orange over our yellow base. Knowin’ where you’re goin’ comes not so much from practice as it does study. If there’s a pyrographic artist whose work you admire, take some time to study their methods.

We’ve now reloaded with our second orange (this orange is brighter and a little darker), which we’ll stretch out smoothly across the wider sections of our flames. This is the first flame job Mrs. Rotten and I have done in our unfinished garage. It’s actually dark in here.

Now here’s a trick for shading the hooks: By dialing the fan (spray pattern) down to a pinpoint and holding the gun further back from our intended target, these rounded areas can be shaded without even moving the gun. Just aim to the center, and trigger it in short spurts.

Crossing tips is quick and easy, but crossing tips of different colors for extra definition is anything but. Once the majority of tips have been shaded with poppy, the ones that overlap must be masked as necessary to protect the colors that are already applied.

This is not easily done in the dark, but we’ll have the place well lit for the next one. Because DBC base colors flash off very quickly, we’re able to do all of our shootin’ in a single evening. However, sixteen crossed tips of contrasting color are slowin’ us down considerably.

For the tips, we’ve put the big gun down. A detail gun works well for us here. With the fan turned down to a pinpoint, the final sixteen overlapping tips can be shaded at very low pressure, but even so, don’t get careless. Always wear an approved respirator.