Painting Silicone

sneedlingsneedling ✭
in Airbrush FX: Beginning to Advanced with Craig Fraser
I bought an airbrush yesterday and I have been extremely frustrated with it today. I'm trying to apply an even white basecoat to a silicone piece because its very inconsistent in translucency. I tried half silicone, half naptha and it seemed to clog the airbrush instantaneously, however while "clogged" solvent seems to exit just fine. I keep thinning it to where it is either mostly pigment or solvent and it still barely sprays out, and what little paint does leave the brush is so translucent its hardly noticeable, and this is a large piece. I disassembled and cleaned it at least ten times today trying out different ratios, and it seems like I'm getting nowhere. I can't just apply pigmented silicone to the piece because it has a lot of detail that it creeps into. 

Comments

  • sneedlingsneedling ✭
    I'm using the caulk and naptha method, with a PSI of around 15-16 which is the highest I can get. 
  • sneedlingsneedling ✭
    I doubled the PSI; it didn't seem to make much of a difference, and I deep-cleaned the airbrush again. I got it to spray a little bit before being completely blocked again, despite being very liberal with the solvent. 
  • Chris EllerbyChris Ellerby Admin
    Silicone requires a slightly higher PSI (20-30) which may be part of what you are running into.   What type of airbrush are you using?  

    /Chris
  • sneedlingsneedling ✭
    I increased the PSI, I'm using an Avanti gravity fed airbrush 
  • Noah TassellNoah Tassell ✭
    I'm recently experimenting with this aswell, Ive found so far what works for me is Smooth-on Silc pig in PhycoPaint with a 2:1 mixture of Naphtha to silicone. I was using a Hi-flow airbrush and everything seems to work alright so far with that.

    I am extremely new to this aswell though so I'd take any of my advice with a grain of salt
Sign In or Register to comment.