Help needed with airbrushing techniques!!!

[glittergirl]

Hi Geeks,



I'm having a little trouble with airbrushing i have watched Ginas Video and have to admit i have made some improvements my airbrushed French is a million times better but i'm having shuch problems with my stencils they either come out blurry or they smudge or i get half the picture looks fine and the other half are smudged.



Help!



i have posted some pics so you can see what i'm doing wrong.



I apologise if the pics are not very good quality i took them with my phone.




The first one is just one colour it comes out dry which i'm told is a good thing but maybe i'm putting to much on?

The second one is a stencil see how i can't get it to look uniform and it starts to smudge

The third one is a fancy french stencil at each end and a little reindeer in the middle see how the reindeer looks fine then on the one side it looks all smudged.

I used dark colours because i remember someone telling me if you could get dark colours to look okay you would be fine with lighter ones.

I have sat and practced aiming my airbrush blending and controling the amount of paint that comes out.

I was wondering if you guys had any nuggets of airbrushing wisdom you could give me.

Thanks !!! :Love:

 

[*JOANNE*]

i think its the angle your holding your airbrush when spraying
its really hard to exlain but at certain angles of spraying, the paint bleeds under the stencil, giving it the blurred look it can also happen if you spray to far away.
try altering your angle of spraying your airbrush.............
i am so pants at explaining.............if you can hold out jackie from liberty nails will give you advice she (and sean) are brilliant airbrushers.
hth
and if its not the angle then jackie will tell you what to do

 

[Saffirez]

Hiya,

You need to make sure your stencil is nice and snug to the nail before you spray, to avoid the paint creeping underneath and smudging your design. Also make sure you spray lightly and don't 'blast' the nail with paint. Build up the colour in several layers. If you spray too wet then the paint can smudge and creep under the stencil. If you layer the paint in a few light applications then it should give you a crisper image. Check your compressor air pressure isn't too high. If it is then you may find it harder to control the air flow.

HTH

 

[Bryony]

Hi,

I would have also said to ensure the stencil is flat against the nail, if you move it away the paint can creep under the edges, which causes the blurring.

With stencils that cover the whole nail (e.g. the animal print ones), when practising (sp???)on tips I find this really difficult to get all lines crisp, tend to find the edges of the design vary between perfect and smudges on the same nail - this is due to the curve of the nail. To get round this, need to master the art of carefully adjusting the stencil as you spray, so the bit of the stencil you spray over is flat to the nail. Was also taught to spray directly above the stencil, not at an angle to it, to stop paint getting under the edges.

I was also taught that you can use your dotting tool as a 'cover up' if you have a small bit where the lines are smudged. A
dd dotted lines to the design along the smudged edge, do the same on the other nails to make it look like you were planning it all along:lol:

 

[Jaffacake]

Have you tried masks instead of stencils? I dont get any smudging now that i use them.

 

[glittergirl]

No i haven't used them might give them a try

 

[RedAdmiral]

Hello I thought I might just add that you probably were not moving the stencil.
When holding certain stencils you may find that not all is flush with the nail as the nail is curved. Take the animal print as an example usually the left side is crisp and the right blurry, same for the top - crisp and bottom - blurry. You must move the stencil when you move onto the next area. when I say move I dont mean reposition (its a little hard to explain but look at the stencil on the nail and you will see what I mean)
It does take practicing but it is worth it in the end. Masks are fine for perfect french's and flowers but you can be limited by the designs.

As for the repositioning of your pink nail it just takes a good eye.
Something to practice = Use a chevron/ 'V' / pointed stencil or even the edge of a business card, practice repositioning so the 'v' is central each time. When you are positioning in the centre confidently flip it upside down (wont work on the bus. card!) and spray into the ^.

Joanne said that you must watch your angle and this is true most stencil designs require a sure shot - a straight on spray

And lastly sometimes with the fancy french stencils..........they never come out! it does depend where you get them from but some are cut so finely that the spikey bits take a spray-dry-spray-dry-spray-etc.etc.and all your left with is a dirty clogged stencil and a sore wrist!!

Feel free to pm me in the future, Hope this helps

 

[glittergirl]

Thanks for the advice i will give it a go.

I'll let you know how i get on

 

[kas67]

You need to hold your gun perpendicular(hope i've spelt it right!) to the nail in other words at right angles to the nail then spray lightly your right when you said the nail needs to look dry when you spray otherwise the paint will bleed under the stencil. If your using a large stencil you will have trouble holding it the best way is to hold part of the stencil against the nail and lightly spray then rock the stencil so that the other half rests on the nail and finish spraying but don't go back and spray on the first bit otherwise it will blur. If you are still having trouble please feel free to come over to all things nails/shesto at excel as I will be airbrushing there on the sunday and monday.