Airbrushing Leather (Buying An Airbrush)

[GingerPowered]

5 hours ago, dikman said:

Regarding masking tape you could look at modelling shops (plastic kits etc) they will have suitable masking tapes. I have several airbrushes of various types (don't keep them in dark places, I think they breed!) some are "cheapies" from ebay/aliexpress and they all work fine. One thing that can help is to carefully polish the needle tips. I also have one like fred showed, I thought it might suffer from pulsing but it works surprisingly well.

You might be able to find used airbrushes/compressors cheap on ebay/google marketplace, could be an inexpensive way to start.

Hahaha! That's funny...Thank you very much, I think the biggest issue with the tape is the flexibility of the surface so I was looking for a liquid mask but that's a no go. The trim on some of these bags is such a tight squeeze but I will definitely take your advice and I appreciate your help. 

[GingerPowered]

4 hours ago, Beehive said:

Lots of people following the thread. 

 

Y'all can ask questions. Anything you'd like to know on airbrushes and leather.

Well since you said that....I got more... how the hell do I even begin to figure out how to match leather paint to what I'm painting?. I've been struggling with this for years!. I can never match the color, I'm about to hire someone because it's driving me insane. Any advice? 

[Beehive]

14 hours ago, GingerPowered said:

Well since you said that....I got more... how the hell do I even begin to figure out how to match leather paint to what I'm painting?. I've been struggling with this for years!. I can never match the color, I'm about to hire someone because it's driving me insane. Any advice? 

 

Look up color mixing. They'll show what colors need to be mixed to be close to the color you want. Then it trial and error. 

Use a cool color light source. Nothing warm(yellowish looking light). You want the blueish type light to show the true colors of what you're using. 

The only thing that'll prevent you from color matching is the cost of the paint. It's only money. 

 

I'm sure you've seen the Angelus, "Best sellers kit". 12 colors all together for $40. Start there. It has the primary colors plus others. Follow it up with a color matching website. Search for, "color matching tool".  

 

You can do it. 

[dikman]

As Beehive said colour mixing/matching is trial-and-error. As for compressors I have several (different sizes) two of which are the generic airbrush types, they are identical except one has a tank. While the tank-less one works ok my advice is to get one with a tank if possible. These are often sold as a "kit" with a double-action airbrush, try and get a gravity feed airbrush and one with a reasonable capacity cup (some of them come with different size cups, which can be useful).

[Beehive]

16 hours ago, dikman said:

As Beehive said colour mixing/matching is trial-and-error. As for compressors I have several (different sizes) two of which are the generic airbrush types, they are identical except one has a tank. While the tank-less one works ok my advice is to get one with a tank if possible. These are often sold as a "kit" with a double-action airbrush, try and get a gravity feed airbrush and one with a reasonable capacity cup (some of them come with different size cups, which can be useful).

 

Have you seen the other airbrush stuff at harbor freight? They have the, "Black Widow" line of stuff. Pencil and trigger style airbrushes. To include a duel outlet compressor with a tank. All together, $70ish for the airbrush, another $200 for the compressor. With the store offering a warranty. 

Compared to Amazon. Decent, single outlet compressor with tank, ~$100. Sometimes it includes a generic brand, cheapo airbrush. All the hose with quick disconnects. No warranty besides the return period window. 

 

Before I bought the low level kit. I was using a compressor from Hobby Lobby. Big POS but it survived me for over a decade. Then Old faithful finally gave up. 

 

For the size of pieces I spray. I simply do not need a tank. After all, I'm not airbrushing a naked lady on a show car. I personally have had no problems with an airbrush set-up meant to do t-shirts. 

[GingerPowered]

18 hours ago, dikman said:

As Beehive said colour mixing/matching is trial-and-error. As for compressors I have several (different sizes) two of which are the generic airbrush types, they are identical except one has a tank. While the tank-less one works ok my advice is to get one with a tank if possible. These are often sold as a "kit" with a double-action airbrush, try and get a gravity feed airbrush and one with a reasonable capacity cup (some of them come with different size cups, which can be useful).

Thank you, I think I will take that advice.. may I ask your opinion of this kit please

 

https://a.co/d/ic22YF1

[Beehive]

1 minute ago, GingerPowered said:

Thank you, I think I will take that advice.. may I ask your opinion of this kit please

 

https://a.co/d/ic22YF1

 

That's pretty much the same as the Harbor freight combo kit but they toss in a couple extra airbrushes and charge you an extra $30 bucks. 

[GingerPowered]

21 hours ago, Beehive said:

 

Look up color mixing. They'll show what colors need to be mixed to be close to the color you want. Then it trial and error. 

Use a cool color light source. Nothing warm(yellowish looking light). You want the blueish type light to show the true colors of what you're using. 

The only thing that'll prevent you from color matching is the cost of the paint. It's only money. 

 

I'm sure you've seen the Angelus, "Best sellers kit". 12 colors all together for $40. Start there. It has the primary colors plus others. Follow it up with a color matching website. Search for, "color matching tool".  

 

You can do it. 

Thank you, yes I have all Angelus paints, I have to match very specific colors of handbags. I've been trying for 2 years and I simply cannot match them exactly, I'll get in the vacinity of the right color lol. I have 0 and I mean 0 artistic abilities so I think I'm shooting too high here. I continue to try, I'm not one to quit but this seriously is driving me insane. 

4 minutes ago, GingerPowered said:

Thank you, I think I will take that advice.. may I ask your opinion of this kit please

 

https://a.co/d/ic22YF1

Thank you... I'll check out my local HF first see if they have any in stock, I'm kinda in the middle of nowhere so I'll see if I get lucky. Thank you

[Beehive]

Go to the source. Angelus has their own color mixing information. 

 

 

https://angelusdirect.com/blogs/news/the-art-of-color-matching-with-angelus-paint

[Zonker1972]

you may also want to look for an airbrush that has a fan tip. airbrushes normally spray a cone of paint. to effectively cover something with dye a fan pattern would be better. I have several Badger Airbrushes, yet another hobby but the Paasche TS is the one that I have for spraying fan patterns. I mainly use it to spray clear on small motorcycle parts. 

this kit has all you need. 

https://www.paascheairbrush.com/TS-3AS

the smaller 0.25 and 0.38 heads may work with dye with increased dye thinning but the 0.6 fan head should work really well with minimal thinning.

Zonker

[dikman]

GP, that kit should be fine. The black airbrush is what's termed an external mix, the paint is sucked up by venturi action, they do not do as fine a spray or have the control of a double action gravity feed (the other two) but are great for covering larger areas. They are also much easier to clean! If you bought that kit as Beehive mentioned it might be worth considering adding quick-release air fittings, they're not necessary but do make it easier to swap between airbrushes.

[fredk]

A suction feed a/b needs a compressor with a lot of free-air delivery and a higher pressure