Pin-striping has been around for decades. It has been used to accent different products and vehicles even before the first car was invented. Horse carriages had these pinstripe designs on the side panels, and some trains had them as well. In the modern age pin-stripes are associated with hot-rods and custom vehicles.
Pin-striping Methods. There are various methods in producing high quality pinstripes on your vehicle’s surface. One method that has been used ever since pin-striping began is the freehand method of striping. It offers a lot of flexibility in design and creativity, as it produces unique designs from a pin-striping artist with freedom to create. One of the drawbacks of this method though is that you have to give yourself time to master the technique and have a lot of patience. You will need a steady hand to create your pinstripes on the surface of a vehicle. Now the areas where the pinstripes will go may not be the flattest surfaces to work with, but you have to maintain your pinstripes as even as possible. You may even have to do the side panels of trucks and vans.
The second method is the mechanical pin-striping method that utilizes tools to help you lay down consistent pinstripes on vehicles like hot-rods, trucks, or vans. The benefit of using this method is getting a consistent width throughout the design as it curves and straightens along the vehicle’s surface. The next method is using stencil tapes to shape out your design on the surface, which help guide the brush to create the pin-stripes. You need not wait for other pin-stripes to dry out before continuing on a new line.
Pin-striping equipment. There are various tools an artist uses to create pin striping on a vehicle’s surface. These tools aid in creating consistent lines when creating a design. There are different sizes of brushes used for pin-striping, and some of these will be made with different types of materials. Some artists will prefer one over the other, and the ones you will want to use will be determined by your experience. You will also need brush washers to clean your brushes after use and brush holders to keep the brush on to maintain its quality. The type of paint you will use for laying down pinstripes is also something you need to look into, because you will need to work with enamels and reducers that will be easy to work with and should be nice to look at when the final work is completed. Other supplies you will need to help with pin-striping are high quality masking tapes and an x-acto knife. The masking tape has to be of high quality so the paint doesn’t seep underneath it and ruin the pinstripe. The knife will help in making precision cuts. There are also hand wheels or wheel heads that create pinstripes with different widths. This is easy to use, especially with magnetic strips that can be laid on the surface to serve as guides for the wheel head.
Although there are various tools to help you create fine lines with consistent widths, it will all boil down to how well your design will be created. Gain enough experience to learn proper techniques and better designs.