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Airbrushing/Etching
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Question
Dear Ellen,
You helped me once before, regarding flocking. I’m almost finished with the completion of the project for making golden retriever replicas. I do have one last question. For lack of the proper nomenclature, I’ll call it etching. What I actually need is, picture a clear tape with printed lettering on the reverse. By pressing the tape on an object you’ll leave the printed material on the object when you remove the tape.
Do you have any ideas?
Thank you,
Keith
Sure do. It's called Chartpak transfer lettering. They've been around forever; it's how graphics were done before the advent of computers. I think architects still use them, among others. They come by the sheet in lots of different fonts. You place them against the surface to be lettered and burnish the letter you want in place. It helps to have a line to follow to make sure you get them on straight, but they're easy to use. Just google Chartpak or transfer lettering. They'll be available online of course, and maybe at your local office supply.
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| Rating(1-10) | Knowledgeability = 10 | Clarity of Response = 10 | Politeness = 10 |
| Comment | Maybe it was fate, but Ellen was right on the money with my need to know in a few areas. Thank You ever so much again, Keith | ||
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Ellen Choate
Expertise
I can answer questions relating to basic and advanced airbrushing technique, general how-tos, preparation and compatible media for different substrates, proper paint-to-air ratios, troubleshooting, color theory, maintenance and repair, stencil cutting and use, and most other areas relating to airbrush. I'll be posting tutorials in the future if that would be helpful, and if possible.
Experience
I learned to airbrush the hard way, watching and collaborating with people who didn't know much more than I did. Later I got instruction from people who knew what they were doing and learned what I had been doing wrong. I have been airbrushing for over 30 years; the first two years were in an amusement park painting as fast as I could, often for 12 hours a day, six days a week. You get good real fast. I have painted on almost everything imaginable, from walls to a bus to prosthetic limbs.
Education/Credentials
I studied art at the University of Texas at Arlington for three years but haven't made the time to complete my now obsolete "graphic arts" degree. We did layouts and color separations by hand, thank you very much. It has served me well, but not in the way I expected.
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