Fricking Friskette

[Rees]

The only kind of friskette I have used so far is the stuff you get from Hobby Lobby. My experience with it has been horrible. I can't ever get it to stick well, and cutting it is a nightmare. I always have to use so much force to get a clean cut that I score whatever I am painting on. Has anybody had better luck with other types like the automask or contact paper?

 

[MeeshellMP]

I use auto friskette....Have also used contact paper. Auto wont stick to canvas, and contact paper leaves a sticky film on metal, and also cuts WAY EASY, so be careful with that one. Also, your gonna score what your working on a little, but no worries, because clear coat fills it back in.

 

[MeeshellMP]

Oh, one more thing,....you can also use heavy duty drawing paper, get some loctite spray adhesive, and cut things out that way too....be careful with spray adhesive, ya dont need a lot, because, whatever your putting it on, may or may not leave a sticky film also

 

[rab3rd]

or velum and magnets on a metal backing board....

 

[Mr.Micron]

like airbrushing it is a learning process of the materials you select .
I use a product call magic cover (sold at hobby lobby) low tack vinyl that works great for me and cost is affordable.But when I first started using it I hated it , mainly because I have to learn how to cut through it without scratching the surface under neath . Never had problems with the way it stuck down or conformed to curves just with cutting.
I have used other types but remember you want low tack , Contact paper is way to sticky But it also depends what surface you trying to use this one?

 

[Rees]

I thought the contact paper would be too sticky as well, but I got some David Morton video's and the guy swears by it. He uses a dab of goo gone after he removes it and it seems to work great. I'm a bit shy when it comes to rubbing solvents on my paintings though. I've tried both the low and high tack and don't care for either personally. I was thinking of trying some 6" automask.

 

[MeeshellMP]

if you use contact paper, stick it to your clothes a few times. Oh how I have learned from my mistakes o

 

[Mr.Micron]

I thought the contact paper would be too sticky as well, but I got some David Morton video's and the guy swears by it. He uses a dab of goo gone after he removes it and it seems to work great. I'm a bit shy when it comes to rubbing solvents on my paintings though. I've tried both the low and high tack and don't care for either personally. I was thinking of trying some 6" automask.

LOL David calls everything contact paper . But googone is good stuff . But again what works for some does not work for all. David started the same way you are now , But he learned the materials that he could either afford or were the only thing available at the time , Do not get me wrong David is a great guy, He offers classes in Indianapolis which is about an hour drive from me.
His videos are more then affordable and I have had a few friends take his classes .
But like all the pros they practice every aspect of the products they use .

 

[MeeshellMP]

Just tried automotive on my KISS bikini....didnt stick...Contact paper here I come

 

[wmlepage]

Mineral spirits will also clean off the adhesive.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[HCP-draggin]

The only kind of friskette I have used so far is the stuff you get from Hobby Lobby. My experience with it has been horrible. I can't ever get it to stick well, and cutting it is a nightmare. I always have to use so much force to get a clean cut that I score whatever I am painting on. Has anybody had better luck with other types like the automask or contact paper?

What kinds of surfaces are you painting on?

 

[Rees]

Mostly cold press now. I've found that the local fedex store can actually scan it in high resolution.

 

[donec]

If you are cutting your surface when you cut out your design then maybe you should cut your design on a cutting oard and then transfer the frisket or whatever to your final surface. No etching marks that way.

 

[Oddball]

I am not a fan of Frisket because I have had issues with it not sticking but here is a Picture of a Skull which I did while on a course with Simon Murry using Frisket! We used a roughed up (red scotch pad) powder coated Aluminum (the type used for signs) about 18" sqr.
AA transparent paints at 50 psi though a Iwata hbc 0.5

 

[RebelAir]

If you are cutting your surface when you cut out your design then maybe you should cut your design on a cutting oard and then transfer the frisket or whatever to your final surface. No etching marks that way.

^Yup...

Dunno why peeps use it personally, and I'm amazed in many videos I see that its still suggested as a good way to stencil or shield, it can be but no matter how good someone is they will still damage the surface but they won't show you those close-ups..On big jobs it may be the only real possibilty if you want those super sharp lines or the design is quite complex but for things like fire or ghostflames, good ol masking tape, newspaper and pinstripping tape is my choice..For complex designs I'd still prefer to make a one off paper stencil and magnet it to the surface as it avoids all issues of cutting your surface or the tape peeling paint or dodgy tape edges and buildup ridges or shield and cut in by hand and freehand shields..But each to their own

 

[HCP-draggin]

Frisket is a great tool, but it takes some practice and skill to really get used to working with. For true fire and stuff like that, you have other options (I'd just use a freehand shield, personally). But good luck getting a portrait to look decent without frisket.

Part of the problem is that the frisket available now (in the US, at least) sucks. ALL of the brands that sell frisket (Badger, Graphix, Artool, etc) all buy from one manufacturer and put it in their own packaging. A while back, that manufacturer decided to use a different formula for the adhesive, and it sucked. They refused to correct the problem until that batch had been used up, leaving us airbrush artists with years worth of less-than-stellar frisket to burn through.

That Crescent discontinued the one good illustration board available doesn't help anything, either. Most of the other stuff I've tried has been varying degrees of terrible at best. Letramax 4000 is the best I've been able to find lately, when I've been able to find it.

But, we can adapt and overcome. . I de-tack my frisket by sticking in on the skin on the inside of my forearm before applying it to the surface, which (usually) helps with the frisket pulling up paint or tearing up the paper. If the paper sucks, though, there aren't many options (taking up origami, maybe?)

Waaaay back in the old days, when airbrushes were used mainly for photo retouching, and a deep cut meant permanent, unfixable damage, they had an interesting way of practicing cutting the frisket without damaging the substrate. They'd blow up balloons, apply the frisket, and practice, very carefully, cutting the frisket without popping the balloon. I don't think I'm quite THAT skilled, but it's one way to work on your blade control ;-)

 

[yelloscoot]

Waaaay back in the old days, when airbrushes were used mainly for photo retouching, and a deep cut meant permanent, unfixable damage, they had an interesting way of practicing cutting the frisket without damaging the substrate. They'd blow up balloons, apply the frisket, and practice, very carefully, cutting the frisket without popping the balloon. I don't think I'm quite THAT skilled, but it's one way to work on your blade control ;-)

That really is some skill,... interesting.

 

[RebelAir]

LOL, have to disagree HCP and only cause its fun

Waaay back in the old days when the airbrush was originally invented I'm pretty sure that frisket or low tack adhesive followed, oh about maybe 70-80 years later, yet a lot of photo retouching was done with the airbrush prior..Adhesives and tape has been around for a long time and no doubt some may have been used in the early days but these utilized much stronger adhesives and I likely think it was avoided..paper was most likely the standard stencil.

Also I can't speak for all airbrush artists but I also think you will find a very large number of extremely well painted portraits that never utilized frisket, in fact I'd even dare to say that these days most have realized that frisket and portraits doesn't work very well, giving super sharp lines that just dont exist in a face, yer its good for blanking off a large shape so a background can be put in without thinking to hard and for that frisket is a very good tool but again not an essential one as again you can do the same with paper or acetate..

...and on the balloons, that just sounds silly and highly frustrating way to teach someone how to apply the correct pressure for a cut as the balloon moves and is not a solid surface and for me wouldn't represent cutting on a stiff surface well and would be so hard to apply the correct pressure due to adjustments one would have to make due to that movement, not only that how many darn balloons would someone go through learning this way LOL..Sounds more like an ol' mans brag that he says he "used" to do but likely never did or did it to show off one day for his buddies and got lucky LOL...Come to think of it it sounds like something I'd say ..Would love some further reading on this as I've just never heard or come across anyone demo'ing such..

But seriously it comes down to risk factor..I've never ever seen a post that complains their paper or acetate stencil has ripped of their paint, or they cut there surface and yes you can detack it and that defiantly helps but that in itself causes issues with frisket flying up thats supposed to stay down (And try replacing frisket in the same position without getting a dble line is very hard) and it still often bleeds, so its hard to see its advantages over paper or acetate...

But we all like our own ways of doing things and I don't doubt that frisket can be a useful tool, but when their are alternatives I don't understand the risk and I honestly feel its something that beginners should steer clear of .....

 

[HCP-draggin]

Funny, while painting on an old leather jacket this afternoon, I never once cut through the frisket, and never had it pull any paint up. In fact, the only time any paint pulled up was when using fine line tape. Maybe the usefulness of a tool has more to do with the skill of the user than the tool itself....

The guy who told me about the "balloon test" WAS an old-timer who was a pretty central character in the online airbrush community. Sadly, he has since passed on. He did photo-retouching for many years, then did technical illustrations (like for anatomy books and such) for quite a while. He wasn't known as someone to be telling tales out of school.

If you can't get frisket to work for you, I'd suggest more practice, instead of suggesting beginners don't even bother learning to use it because you can't. Is it an easy tool to use? Not really. But getting it to lay back where it was isn't exactly rocket science (hint- you CAN move it on the board).

IMO, saying beginners should steer clear of frisket makes about as much sense as saying apprentice carpenters should stay away from using hammers because you can smack your thumb with it, and that hurts. Eventually, you wind up with a carpenter who can't swing a hammer. I'd say that learning to use frisket is as important as putting in your time doing your dots, lines, and dagger strokes. Yes, it's possible to paint with it, but it's also possible to paint while standing on your head. Just because someone else does it that way doesn't make it a terribly good idea, does it?

 

[Oddball]

I may have been a bit Brief when I posted here showing the Skull above.
I was meaning it to indicate that it is a Great tool (I am not a fan but never the less), I agree with HCP, We (you) should use every thing you can lay your hands on to give you an edge (Pardon the pun).
Two things about using sticky masks / stencils, I like to De-Tack it first and (not so important with transfer paper) and think about how you cut it and with what tool.
Cutting on your art piece is just another skill to be mastered which takes time. I used to use my exacto knife and sometimes cut right through the art work which can't be disguised and looks brutal. the answer I found was to use a razor blade, either a proper blade with a hard back or a normal shaving razor blade with some tape on one edge. Why? Well, when I use an exacto I hold it like a pen with by index finger on top and that is pressing down where as with a razor I just pinch it between my thumb and index finger and it kinda rides along and slices like a guillotine.
One golden rule when cutting masks and stencils is, ALWAYS use a sharp blade! You need to put more pressure on a blunt one, obvious really but how many of us think, "I'll just use this blade for this one cut"? LOL ....I see you blushing
When we did the Skull (pictured above) we peeled of the frisket and put in down on the reference picture, traced the lines we wanted with a ball point and the put it back on the backing paper, that also de-tacked it a little. then all the major cuts where made on the backing paper.
(TIP - if you leave a tiny 4 or 5 mm gap in a cut in a few places for a piece which will come out later it helps to stabalise the frisket when to transfer it to your work surface, then just nick the little "tabs" when you want to remove it.)
(Second TIP - if you put a couple of strike marks across the cut line in a couple or three places before you do any cutting they will help to re-align any pieces of the mask when back masking).
Hope this helps