Well, looks like I had some time to get the frame painted up over the weekend.
While this was abit of work getting the finish I wanted, I'm not sure if I'll finish out like this, or add abit more detailing in once I get to mock up/assembly stage.
Being that this is a steampunk styled bike, I had to go with, you guessed it right, lots of copper, brass, bronze and leather. Also, another key element to this is age.
My build is almost the complete inverse of what everyone else is doing. They are taking older frames, and redoing them to make them look newer. I'm taking a newer frame(2-3 months old?) and attempting to make it look old. Really old.
Things in my little post-apocolypic, steamy, fantasyland are well used. This means I have artistic freedom in order to make it look like its been used and abused. You'll find with age, things breakdown in a random way, to me, this means I have to use multiple different layers of in order to give the finish an inconsistency to it.
I've used 6 layers of paint on the frame in order to give the bike that inconsistency, as well as some areas of wear would they would be given normal useage.
First up, Primer:
I decided to get my bike abit more of a darker, aged look to it, so my base primer will be satin black.
I prefer to use Krylon Fusion for my primer, I find that it has very good sticking power, as well as flexibility to use on plastics. I really like this paint, fully cured and cleared it is extremely resilient.
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Looking back on this, I wish I would have used a greenish, oxidized copper for the first layer to give it abit more realistic of an aged look. I still like this, but the slight speckle of green would be abit better I think.
Anyways, for the first layer after the primer, I'm going to use Krylon Make-it-Stone Copper metallic. This is a paint normally used to give a rusty/aged copper look. For a picture frame of something it would look good, but on a bike, I feel it just doesn't provide the depth of color or inconsistency I would like.
So before this layer was allowed to dry, I took some Krylon Copper Metallic and gave the paint a slight misting. This paint is more brighter and more metallic and is meant as a single sheen. I really liked how it gave the copper more of realistic shine, as well as giving the overall frame more color diversity to show that ageing.
Just after that misting, I put another light misting of the Make it Stone Metallic copper over the whole frame.
(I forgot to take pictures of the frame after this misting)
For the final paint on the frame before the clear, I'm using a product called "Rub and buff" Its found in art and craft stores by the gold and copper leafing supplies. While I've never personally seen this used on a bicycle before, I'm sure someone has had to have done it previously. In essence, what this stuff is, is a metallic enamel and wax paint that you apply with your fingers (you can use a brush or another applicator, but it actually reacts with your skins oils) to give objects a worn, aged look. This product is used extensively in the cosplay and propmaking world, and this won't be the only technique that I am learned from them...
For the frame, I'm using "Antique gold"
What I am have done is to take a Q-tip and to go over all the weld lines, to make it look as if it was copper that was brazed together, then I used my finger to go over areas that would typically see higher than normal wear. Such as dropouts, chainstay slapping area, bottomside of the downtube and crank areas, any areas that a bike would typically see rock strikes, as well as being handled, such as the seatpost tube, etc.
I find that it this product does a great job giving the bike that worn out, used look.
Hopefully you can make out the pictures, I think my cell camera does not do a good enough job of really showcasing the depth of colors used. I will take some better shots when the paint has fully hardened out in sun without a flash.
Overall I'm happy with the frame color and glad I was able to get this done, this was the easiest part of my build. All of the custom stuff is coming soon, I am still waiting on a few different items in order to proceed.
After the initial interest, it looks like I was dropped all the way back to the 2nd last build. I promise that won't happen again. I have quite a few more surprises in store that I'm pretty sure not only will you like, but you will have your pants blown off
