Have to do some painting? Before you start, I have got some tips to share. Hopefully, they can help you complete the task with ease. Purchasing From The Paint ShopThere are colour catalogs available from which we can select our desired colours. Some paint stores will even offer these catalogs free for their clients. These colours supposedly should resemble the actual ones. However, these colours are printed on, not painted onto the cupboard. As a result, we can't compare what was on the cardboard and expect the same colors to show up on different surfaces. The colours shown are quite close to the actual ones. As in, red is to red, blue is to blue, and so on... The difference lies in the tone. Even the same can of paint have different feel on concrete wall, wooden door and metal frame. Paint comes in 1 and 5 litre volumes. A litre of paint costs about SG $25. A larger volume of 5 litres will cost around SG $75. That was a huge 40% discount. (Pricing is based on the author's experience and may vary.) So, is it much more worthwhile to purchase a larger can? However, do take note of how much paint was needed. Spending $75 to buy 5 litres where you only use 2 litres won't be a wise decision either. If you are thinking of storing the paint for later use, it might have dried out by then. Anyway, don't expect the paint to be as good as new after a long period of storage. So do plan before your purchase. So How Would I Know How Much Paint Is Needed?As a guide, one litre of paint is more than enough to cover the front and the back of a door with 2 coats. You could also plan based on surface area. 1 litre of paint should be enough to cover a 3m² surface with 2 coats. *Guide is based on 2 coats. Actual amounts of paint needed may vary, depending on the number of layers applied and also the amount of loss due to dripping. Tips For Painting1. Be patient - Remember "haste makes waste". 2. Be Tidy
3. Invest in a good brush. If you can't finish the job in a single day, soak the brush in thinner and reuse it the next day. This prevents the brush from hardening. Personally, I prefer nylon hair brushes to natural hair brushes. The reason for this is that natural hair brushes shed. It's an eyesore to see brush hairs stuck to the finished paint work. 4. Before we begin painting, we must ensure that the surface to be painted is dust-free. 5. For signboards or artifacts, that require a higher standard of finish, we can use Turpentine to wipe the surface. This will achieve a cleaner surface for painting. Note: Thinner can "bite off" paint, so we can use them to clean any accidental spills. But we should not use them to clean the finished piece, as they will corrode the paint. If there is a need to clean the finished piece, use turpentine instead. Turpentine is less corrosive than thinner.
Paint For SignboardSignboard makers rarely use the catalogue from the paint shop, as they follow another type of colour matching system - Pantone. Pantone has a wider range of colours for selection. Having more selection means we can have more tailored colours. Especially when dealing with corporate colours, we got to be more precise. Pantone is also a widely used colour matching system among graphic designers. The selection of colours got to be uniform among all the vendors, especially if the colours are tied to the corporate identity. Seem graphic designers use Pantone colours, large format printers and signboard makers will have to follow suit. In other words, they will have to follow Pantone. As these are specially selected colours, signboard makers won't be able to buy them off the shelf. They will have to mix their own paints, coming up with a colour that closely resembles the chosen one from the Pantone chart. A set of Pantone colour chart can cost around SG $200. Did the price stun you? I was totally astounded by that. After confirming with a few signage suppliers, yah, that's the price. So I don't think any signboard makers will want to give them away for free. If you do really find any supplier who is willing to offer the chart for free, do share their contact with me. I have been hoping to get it. That will be a bizarre wish for a Christmas or birthday gift. LOL. Communicating With The Signboard MakerInform the signboard maker the chosen Pantone colour codes and they will be able to construct your signs. And of course, give them your logo design file too. Not sure of the Pantone codes? Then simply tell them the CMYK codes and they will be able to match them for you. If you are still unable to provide any colour codes, you can show them the physical colour samples that you want. They will be able to get the identical colours from your sample. They will be able to reproduce the colours from your sample with 98-99 percent accuracy. Or you can borrow the chart from them for selection. ​Painting Method For SignboardSignboard makers will usually mix these required colours into small containers and then, using a spray gun, spray the paint evenly onto the signs.
Why Spray paint is Chosen Instead Of Brushing?1. It creates a more even, uniform coat throughout the whole painted surface. 2. It produces a thinner coat which will dry faster than a thicker one. Drying time is not linearly proportional to the thickness of the coat. The drying time required exponentially went up with thicker coat. So we will rather paint 2 thin layer of paints than 1 thick coat. This will save a significant amount of waiting time. Why Paint Drying Time Matters?Under normal circumstances, spray paint usually takes 10 to 20 minutes to reach surface dry. For brush painting, it will take half an hour or even up to 4 hours to reach surface dry, depending on the type of paint used, latex, water or oil based. We are now talking about surface dry only. It will take even a longer time for a hard dry. Signboard being the face of the organisation, is extremely important. With fast drying process, lesser chance dirt will dropped onto the surface while the paint is still wet. If any dirt falls onto the wet paint, the dirt will stick onto the surface. Once the paint has dried, removing the dirt then won't solve the problem. There will be a dent in the spot where the dirt previously rested. We can't possibly be safe guarding the paint until it dried. So the best practice is to paint with fast-drying paint and method. And a clean, dust-free area will be an ideal place for painting. Using fast-drying paint also means that the signs can then be delivered to the clients earlier. No client will like to wait long for their signboard to be delivered. Spraying Painting ArtBefore we wrap up this post, we'd like you to watch the video below. This artist created a beautiful image of Rome using spray cans. While we admire his talents, do take note of how fast spray paint dries. He had finished his work in less than 7 minutes. That is an unbelievable speed for such a nice piece of work. Once completed, without delay, he handed over his work to the customers. Had the paint dry? What is your guess? Editor's Note:
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Hi walkbies, welcome to my blog. Here we will be discussing various ways to create an efficient and safe working environment, improve work performance, and produce better outputs/results. From construction tips to arts and crafts, from Feng Shui to science, we will be covering them all. So stay with us and read on. Together, we will gain the knowledge needed to excel.
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