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Blending 1 shot on Dibond

Hand Lettering topics: Sign Making, Design, Fabrication, Letterheads, Sign Books.

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Kelly Thorson
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Blending 1 shot on Dibond

Post by Kelly Thorson »

I have a sign that is going to involve some fine art work. I'd like to use 1 shot but I'm concerned that the addition of either Smith's Cream or Liquin to facilitate blending will affect the adherance and durability of the paint. It is an exterior sign.
I believe there is no shame in failure. Rather, the shame lies in the loss of all the things that might have been, but for the fear of failure.
Mike Jackson
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Post by Mike Jackson »

Kelly,
I've only needed to use Smith's Creme a few times, but wouldn't hesitate to use it again. The "old" billboard painters have been using it for decades, so you can rest assured it is a tried and proven medium. Bill Hueg uses it a lot in his pictorials and teaches the use of it in his workshops. It doesn't take much to allow the paint to blend when painting with artist's oil paints, but you will probably need more with One-Shot to slow it down. The Diabond leg your question might be an unknown variable, since most of the old painting techniques were done on "blockout" painted over MDO or metal panels.

Good luck,
M. Jackson
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Robare M. Novou
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Post by Robare M. Novou »

I worked at a Billboard company for about a year, and we used the blending cream on a few occasions. The Billboards were temporary, but they held up well when using the blending cream, but that was on shop painted 4 x 8's of MDO and Metal, so the finish coat was somewhat soft and receptive to additional coats of paint when painting pictorials or adding painted panels of reversed out color.

As far as the harder surface of finish coated DiBond, you may want to abrad the area using a 3M Scotch Brite Pad, to dull the finish, and give some tooth for your artwork to adhere to.

Ive never had a problem with adhesion after Scotch Briting the surface of any of my substrates.

For added Protection, you may want to consider a clear coat, of a gloss, semi-gloss, or matte finish. I personally prefer the matte finish. See the sign, not the shine.

RMN
carlos venson
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Joined: Fri Nov 03, 2006 9:44 pm

smiths cream

Post by carlos venson »

I worked for Pictorial Painting for a while and we used Smith's almost every day on most of the
billboards. Most were MDO 14' x 48' rotates. They would be out for a few years before repainting. We worked mainly with oil colors so I don't know about One-Shot. However, every-
thing held up well. We also used it on truck layouts that were miniature billboards. These were
aluminum bodied units. They never failed while I was there.
Kelly Thorson
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Location: Penzance, SK Canada
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Smith's it is....

Post by Kelly Thorson »

Thanks Guys,
Smith's it is then. It's the Dibond that had me a bit nervous, but then lots paint on it with latex based paints with no trouble so chances are it should work fine. Seeing as how nobody posted a don't do it reply I feel a lot more comfortable. This is one that is going to take a fair amount of work, I'd hate to be redoing it in a couple of years from now.
I believe there is no shame in failure. Rather, the shame lies in the loss of all the things that might have been, but for the fear of failure.
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