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Quality Paint

tino7580

New Member
First, thank you for this forum! It's awesome!
I do not run a sign business. I am a student in a graphic design program but my roots are in drawing & painting. I have been painting indoor murals for friends & family for years just as a hobby. I have been asked to paint an outdoor mural on a garage & someone wants me to do a vintage beer sign for their man cave.

I want the outdoor mural (will be on brick) to be durable & done right.

What paint does everyone recommend? I've been seeing many use 1-shot or Ronan

How do you recommend to prep the surface?

Do I clear coat it when I'm done?

Any good places to check out techniques for vintage sign making?

Thanks again!!!
 

Jillbeans

New Member
Sight unseen it's hard to recommend a paint but I will tell you to not use 1-shot.
Contact Dennis at Ronan and see what he suggests. They have bulletin and lettering enamels as well as water based paints.
Love....Jill
 

tino7580

New Member
Thanks everyone! I was doing research on paint and the reason I asked here is because I was reading a lot of mixed reviews. I have seen some complaints then found out it was due to the lead being taken out. But it looks like everyone leans towards Ronan.
I ask about the clear coat b/c I came across the mural uv clears & I didn't know if that was a must or not.

I have actually checked out the Walldogs!! Awesome!! I seen they were using Nova. I haven't seen anything on that brand, any opinions?
 

visual800

Active Member
All our wall paintings are done with latex paints. one shot sucks. we use benjamin moore ext satin latex on some and for high gloss we have used rust skat paints.
 

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Jillbeans

New Member
Nice work, Bruce.
I just completed a mural using the exterior latex sold by True Value, it was nice to work with but did require double coating.
I have never thought that clear-coating was a good idea.
 

visual800

Active Member
Nice work, Bruce.
I just completed a mural using the exterior latex sold by True Value, it was nice to work with but did require double coating.
I have never thought that clear-coating was a good idea.

yeah i saw that mural you just did, i like it!
 

Mosh

New Member
Like to see that laytex in 7-8 years....Ronan or Mathews is all we use...Eat that Laytex suys. I have stuff up that has been there since 1988, no layex can say that!!! End of story! I fell into the laytex trap 6-7 years ago, and guess what..I have replace pretty much all of them.
 

visual800

Active Member
Like to see that laytex in 7-8 years....Ronan or Mathews is all we use...Eat that Laytex suys. I have stuff up that has been there since 1988, no layex can say that!!! End of story! I fell into the laytex trap 6-7 years ago, and guess what..I have replace pretty much all of them.


Depends on what brand your using. as far as you painted something back in 88 and its still there, you damn right it is, back then the paint would kill houseflies it had the good stuff in it. one shot all the way! Not anymore. if latex lasts 7-8 that would be good. nothing is permanent. but I have found latex to be more durable than ronan aquacote or one shot or any other oil based sign paint.
 

Jillbeans

New Member
My interior mural was latex. I wouldn't use latex outside.
But then again I wouldn't use 1S either.
The murals we painted in Mars in 2002 were a mix of Chromatic bulletin and 1S regular lettering enamels.
The first one was all 1S and still looks new. It was primered before the job by an individual.
The second was mainly Chromatic and has faded/chalked considerably. It was applied to a freshly painted wall (about 1 month prior)
Both of those face the same direction.
The third one has all the purple severely faded. (1S) This is the only one not on painted brick. It's just painted on stucco.
The fourth looks brand new, not sure which paint was used but it has the same sun exposure as the faded purple mural. It was professionally primed before the job.
Of course, that was 10 years ago.
None of our sign paints are the same as back then, and not nearly as good as they were 20 years ago.
 

Joe Diaz

New Member
We use Nova Color at our shop. It's a high quality acrylic paint made in California that is great for murals. You want to watch out for the Lightfastness number on each paint and go with "I" for a long lasting mural. Make sure you are ordering Opaque if you want your paints to cover with the first coat, because they also have transparent and translucent. They also provide a lot of gels and other mediums that will help with blending colors, creating glazes etc... But we are finding that this paint is easy to work with, covers great, and most importantly holds up.

I just got back from a Walldog meet. The Walldogs have quickly started switching over from paints like 1 shot and ronan to Nova Color in the last few years. This meet was the first where all murals were painted in Nova. Every single artist was working with Nova. Any complaints I have heard about the paint has usually been from artists that are using it for the first time because they are still used to using only oil based enamels. The word is that next year's meet will also be 100% Nova Color.
 
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