Newbie; need help with practice materials.

[Chris Funk]

I am wondering what kind of paper I see people using to practice on. Newsprint seems too thin to me. I haven't tried it, but I feel like it would pucker under the 1 shot. I have been striping for a few years now. I have everything I need as far as materials. I have been practicing my strokes on the back window of a junk explorer in my shop. It works fine, however, clean-up is a tedious task the next time I want to practice. I was hoping to find a cheap and easy material to practice on. Thanks for any responses In advance.

[Chris Johne]

Grab a pad of finger painting paper from the dollar store or art store, it won't absorb 1shot and you can peel off and save sheets for comparison later on.

[Joe Morreale]

I bought a roll of 16 lb. butcher paper from a restaurant supply. It is a 9'' thick roll and last a long time. When the time comes it's great for patterns as well. I think is was about $35.

[Lee Littlewood]

The fingerpainting paper is a good idea - I got some for a calligraphy class and never thought about it with 1Shot. It feels like it will work...

Otherwise, the old staple was a piece of glass. Either wipe it off with mineral spirits when you're done practicing, or scrape it off with a razor scraper next morning. With a 3" scraper it goes pretty fast. But you don't get to see your progress, and that can be helpful (or infuriating, depending - I think the brain moves faster than the fingers, so sometimes as you see better if feels like you are getting worse).

[Mike Jackson]

Chris,
You can probably find some old real estate signs around town. Take them out of the frame and roll them with some white enamel. Most of what you will paint in your life time will probably be using One Shot or Chromatic Lettering Enamel on a smooth painted surface. If you don't like a stroke, you can just wipe it off and go at it again. You can "snap" a top and bottom line or use a Stabillo pencil, similar to what you would be doing on a real sign panel.

Trying to learn to paint on glass can be harder than on a painted surface. Normally, you use a different kind of brush and it will act differently.

Lettering on newspaper or paper can work, but again it will not have the same feel as painted metal or painted MDO.

If you are learning to letter for Show Card Writing, you'd probably want some sable brushes and some good Rich Art poster paint. It is altogether different.

That's my suggestion, but all previous ones are great, too.

Here's a page on The Letterheads : http://www.theletterheads.com/lhparts/lettering.html
It has three sets of pages with practice stroke suggestions.

Mike Jackson