Was anyone doing lace paint in the '70s? (real cars)

[LDO]

I'm thinking vans, specifically. I got a Tamiya 1/12 scale van body in the mail today. Just wondering about what was "on the scene" back then. I'm thinking contemporary colors in a '70s paint scheme.

I gotta look into getting a touch-up gun...and a compressor to run it. I'm thinking of using big metalflakes...like the kind still used on bass boats.

[Jairus]

Yes. The use of Lace as a masking material started in late 1968, but didn't hit it's stride until about 1972. By then the custom painted panel van was the hottest trend for the next three years and a most excellent canvas for a plethora of painting techniques like fades, murals, brocade prints, lace, pinstripe and other multicolor effects!

Hot Rod mag was one of the publications who promoted and reported on the trend with lots of color pictures. I would start by searching for terms like "Van In" and the like if going by Google.

If finding print matter then pick up just about any Hot Rod magazine from 1972 to 1975 and it should contain many pictures of "Vantastic paint"!

[LDO]

Wow. I thought lace painting started in the '50s and had faded out by the '70s.

Thank you.

Do you know if anyone makes scale lace stencils?

[Dan Helferich]

I don't know of any scale lace stencils but this guy will make scale lace decals. http://vsrnonline.com/gregsdecalgraphics/index.htm In the era your shooting for murals were much bigger in vans while the lace was found on everything from customs to race cars. Good luck on your project!

[Guest Johnny]

There was a place here called Custom Unlimited that did the lace paint jobs but mostly on cars!

Lots of Chevelles, Mustangs, Camaros, GTOs and Firebirds in the area had it.

All they were doing was going to K-Mart and buying plastic lace table cloths. They lasted abot 3 cars and then were getting too built up with paint beyond that!

They would offer a dicount to kids that couldn't really afford a complete paint job for them to just use the old lace cloths and just scuff and shoot the lace over the original cars paint then a coat of clear!

The big flake was a real pain to shoot! Had a tendecy to slide a bit But boy was it cool!!

I had a 65 Impala midnight blue that we clear coated with red, blue, silver and gold BIG flake!

But too many coats of clear over and after a month the roof looked like a fractured glass with blue cracks between islands of flake!

[Jairus]

Wow. I thought lace painting started in the '50s and had faded out by the '70s.

Thank you.

Do you know if anyone makes scale lace stencils?

Lace has been with us since the dark ages. Poor women were forced to eek out a living making lace for wealthy land owners back then to use as fanny wipes. (true story)

So the use of lace as decoration and clothing has been with us for many hundreds of years! I am sure that some enterprising artist figured out that shooting color through the patterns left a reverse pattern as soon as the airbrush was invented. The action was indeed way quicker than would have the artist tried to do so with a brush.... but it really did not become mainstream in automotive custom painting until the 60's boom. 1968 to 1972 was the hight of that boom and it trickled off after.

All trends have a bell curve and trends that come on hot generally drop off just as quickly.

Pro Street, Monochromatic paint, Retro Rods, Wide White wall tires, Gow-jobs, fade paint are all trends that have a peak that is identifiable with a time period. That is all I did so don't pull out a 1800's carriage that was painted in lace and say... "see they did it back then!"

[LUKE'57]

I've got an old "how-to" book on custom painting that has a chapter on lace painting that gives their take on how it came about. Knowing and having been a painter I have to give some weight to the story. It seems that a pair of lace panties were found one day in a shop where some painting had been being done and a pattern remained on the surface from the settling paint when they were removed from the bench. How they came to be there in the first place was not explained fully. And the rest, it seems, is custom paining history,

[Joe Handley]

Funny you bring this up, I had thought about doing something along those lines on one of the HPI ponycar bodies (probably he AAR Cuda....) just for the heck of it I even found these pics at the time too. It's being applied to a Radio Flyer style wagon, but is enough to get the just of how to do it on an external surface

Hope it helps you some, and definately post up some pics when you get that LB done!

[Terry Sumner]

In 1970 I was in my senior year of high school and heavy into muscle cars of the day. My own ride was a 66 Chevelle with a transplanted 427 in it. I had done a bunch of buddies' cars paint jobs and did do a couple of lace jobs. Pretty simple to do. Jairus is pretty accurate on the time frame. Vans were probably the biggest receiver of lace paint among other techniques maybe followed by drag cars. Cobwebbing was big as was using a rainbow of colors in many panels outlined by pinstriping in never ending lines. Then there was metalflake and pearl paint and let's not forget all that wild psychedelic ###### on all those VW vans too! Oh and another one I forget the actual name for was when you would paint a spot with the airbrush and then blow all the paint out in all directions with just the air alone. I think it was called a "freak drop" or something like that. I also recall another technique where painters would apply saran wrap all scrunched up onto freshly sprayed paint to get a weird effect. Painting lettering that looked like chrome was big too. I'm sure there are others but it was some 40 years ago and my memory definitely ain't what it used to be!

[Guest Johnny]

Cobwebbing!!! Thanks Terry! I couln't remember for the life of me what that tecnique was called! I'll just chalk it up to age I guess!

[Karmodeler2]

I went to Hobby Lobby, convinced the lady I was buying lace (which they have several different "scales" per say) for a paint job and just did it. It turned out okay and I was pleased. I tried it on spoons first, then did a different lace on the boards.

[Terry Sumner]

Looks purty good!

[Joe Handley]

In 1970 I was in my senior year of high school and heavy into muscle cars of the day. My own ride was a 66 Chevelle with a transplanted 427 in it. I had done a bunch of buddies' cars paint jobs and did do a couple of lace jobs. Pretty simple to do. Jairus is pretty accurate on the time frame. Vans were probably the biggest receiver of lace paint among other techniques maybe followed by drag cars. Cobwebbing was big as was using a rainbow of colors in many panels outlined by pinstriping in never ending lines. Then there was metalflake and pearl paint and let's not forget all that wild psychedelic ###### on all those VW vans too! Oh and another one I forget the actual name for was when you would paint a spot with the airbrush and then blow all the paint out in all directions with just the air alone. I think it was called a "freak drop" or something like that. I also recall another technique where painters would apply saran wrap all scrunched up onto freshly sprayed paint to get a weird effect. Painting lettering that looked like chrome was big too. I'm sure there are others but it was some 40 years ago and my memory definitely ain't what it used to be!

I think I know what you're talking about with the "freak drops", but I can't remember what those are called off hand either. The saran wrap thing is still being used by people who paint RC bodies too but now call it "marbling", usually spray some kind of pearl paint onto the inside of the body that take saran wrap or cheap, store sourced plastic bag and twist it into the still wet paint then back coat it with another color afterward.

Another trick some RC guys do is to get some of the rubber like shelf liner that is molded to have a woven style shape to it. You lay it down over the lexan in the same way you would the lace, then shoot a silver or light gun metal color paint through the liner, you then remove the liner and back the first color with a metallic black, dark gun metal, or charcoal. If done correctly it will give a bit of a carbon fiber or woven graphite appearance to what ever you apply it to.

*EDIT*

AhHa! finally found the kind of liner I'm talking about for the Carbon Fiber/Woven Graphite look!

http://housewares.hardwarestore.com/37-188-shelf-and-drawer-liners/magic-cover-natural-weave-liner-126179.aspx

I've also seen people use this stuff and as a mask and claim it "looks like Carbon Fiber", but it comes out looking more like a line grid type graphic instead.

http://www.homedepot.com/Building-Materials-Drywall-Drywall-Accessories/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xi3Zaq0l/R-100671081/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

Edited June 27, 2010 by Joe Handley

[iBorg]

Karmodeler2:

I absolutely dig you Deal's Wheels Van. Have you thought of adding some freak drops to it? Really not hard to do. Thin the paint down a bit more than normal. Than hold the airbrush still and shoot a small circle. Then move in closer and blow the paint with the air without adding any more paint. If you pay attention to where you angle the brush you can cause the paint to move in the direction you want. The trick for me was to always remember to aim in the opposite direction of where I wanted the center to be.

Mike

[BigGary]

Lace definately hit its peak in the early 70s. The lace on the van above is as overblown as the wheels and tires but way out of scale. As with so many fads, it soon passed.

Gary

Edited June 27, 2010 by BigGary