Tried Steel FX dye today

[M & N Steel CNC]

Tried the dye's today, boy do I have lot to learn.....
I poured some yellow in the 1 oz cup of my air brush sprayed a little, and before I knew it the cup was empty.
Had to use 2oz to cover a 13 " diameter circle. I think I am using tooo much. I need to learn about my air brush.
I do not know how to regulate the volume. Then I sprayed the blue, it use 1 oz, Steel too much I think.

Bill if you can give me some feedback I would appreciate it. Love the colors.

What would happen If I do not put a clear coat on it, can I leave it natural for a matte finish???

[abmetal]

Clearcoat it. That REALLY makes it pop.

Allen

[M & N Steel CNC]

Clearcoat it. That REALLY makes it pop.

Allen

Thanks, am I using too much? your work with dyes is awesome?

[M & N Steel CNC]

what do you do to the back of your piece?

[abmetal]

It does sound like you're using too much. Bill can tell you way more than I can but from my experience I've learned it doesn't take much at all to achieve your desired color. It doesn't look like there's hardly enough color when it's sprayed on but the color really comes out when it's clearcoated. Do some samples and shoot some rattle can clear on them and you'll see what I mean. I don't use the rattle cans to clear our signs but it'd be good enough for samples.

I recently bought a new airbrush that is gravity fed with a variable spray. It's my third airbrush, first gravity feed and by far the best operating one I've had. And I'm by no means an artist. All I draw are flies.

Allen

[M & N Steel CNC]

Thanks

[steelfx]

Tried the dye's today, boy do I have lot to learn.....
I poured some yellow in the 1 oz cup of my air brush sprayed a little, and before I knew it the cup was empty.
Had to use 2oz to cover a 13 " diameter circle. I think I am using tooo much. I need to learn about my air brush.
I do not know how to regulate the volume. Then I sprayed the blue, it use 1 oz, Steel too much I think.

Bill if you can give me some feedback I would appreciate it. Love the colors.

What would happen If I do not put a clear coat on it, can I leave it natural for a matte finish???

The Metal Solvent Dyes, in and of themselves, are not particularly light-fast or color-fast. That's why a UVI clear-coat is essential, especially if the metal art is to be displayed outdoors.

I wouldn't say you used too much, although typically the dyes are used in several small areas of a piece that is bright, shiny steel, or first coated with COPPER F/X?. You used about $15-$20 bucks worth of dye & in my opinion, your finished piece is easily worth $200 or more, so it's sort of relative.

If you can get a gravity fed air-brush & set your inlet pressure to 3-4 psi, I think you'll find that the dyes "go a lot further". At that low pressure, there will be virtually Zero Over-Spray, so all the product will wind up on your artwork.

The siphon-fed air-brushes usually have a larger needle & orifice, so they "waste" product, in my opinion.

And, like Allen said, you don't need that much color, as your clear-coat will dramatically enhance the brilliance of the color/s.

In the very near future (1-2 weeks), I'll be offering 'Dyed Clear-Coats' that are specifically used for larger pieces. They're translucent, like the dyes, but no extra clear-coating is required. The cool thing with the Dyed Clears is that
you can add the Iridescent Metal Flake for extra sparkle or use 2 or 3 colors to blend from say, Red to Orange to Yellow.
Or, any other color range that you want. You'll need a Detail Gun or Trigger Style Air-brush to use them properly, though.
I'll have those on my site, as well.

Any other questions, please let me know.

And check out the new site at: http://steelfxpatinas.com/product-categ ... l-patinas/

thanks!

Bill


p.s. I'm also finishing up the R&D of what I will most likely call 'Color Wash Patinas', that are basically a dye oxide patina, that can be applied with a drip bottle or pipette...or even with a brush. They won't work well in a trigger-spray bottle because they have a high-solids content. They'll require a clear-coat, as well. I'll attach a little "sneak peek" of the Color Wash Patinas, done in green-yellow on bright steel & rusty steel.

bw

[M & N Steel CNC]

Thanks Bill, I am just now beginning to try your patinas and dyes, and clearcoat, this one scares me.
Never used a paint gun in my life and I struggle with rattle can spraying. I did find out the hard way that you must coat the piece, I wiped on it to get the dust off and the color came off. Then I screamed . I am looking forward to trying your new products when you get them. I did put some of the silver dust in the blue and it came out beautiful.

Thanks again.

[M & N Steel CNC]

Bill, can you tell me the brand and model of the airbrush you use, I want to make sure I get one that I can adjust the PSI?

[steelfx]

Bill, can you tell me the brand and model of the airbrush you use, I want to make sure I get one that I can adjust the PSI?

My favorite gun is an IWATA KUSTOM TR. The smaller gun is also Iwata & I think it's called a Neo.
I've never seen an airbrush with a built in regulator, but you can use an inline reg. or a compressor that has the regulator
and filtration system built right in. If you use shop air, like I did when I first started, you have to use a much smaller hose from the pressure regulator to the gun, or it will get heavy & be in your way really quick.

Here's a photo collage of my setup. Quiet as a sewing machine & can run two guns at the same time, both on different pressures. The hose feeding the gun is 1/8" , very light & I don't even notice it when I'm spraying.

My biggest suggestion is: Gravity Fed Gun w/ the largest cup (they're built in to the body) possible. That's why my favorite gun is the TR, which stands for Trigger. The cup holds a lot of product,

thanks,

Bill

[M & N Steel CNC]

Thanks sooo much Bill.

[steelfx]

You're welcome!