Just Got A Wonderful Airbrush System For X-Mas Now What?

Decorating By HipnotiqGlamour Updated 31 Dec 2008 , 2:32am by tiggy2

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HipnotiqGlamour Posted 28 Dec 2008 , 8:55pm
post #1 of 25

Okay so I got what I was hoping for, for x-mas and that was a airbrush system.

SOOooOOo My question is for those of you who airbrush how in the heck did you figure out what your doing. What psi's should I be spraying at? How far away etc etc

Let me know how you learned please

Thank you all and happy Holidays

24 replies
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liapsim Posted 28 Dec 2008 , 9:09pm
post #2 of 25

*BUMP*

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leah_s Posted 28 Dec 2008 , 9:10pm
post #3 of 25

All I can say is read the directions with your particular airbrush and practice. I wanted to throw mine out the window for quite a while. Now I'm quite fond of it.

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slopokesgirl Posted 28 Dec 2008 , 9:20pm
post #4 of 25

Well, I just played around with it. And I looked all over You tube at air brush videos. But the best thing you can do is practice on your own.

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sparklepopz Posted 28 Dec 2008 , 9:28pm
post #5 of 25

Getcha some coloring books and practice, practice, practice! icon_smile.gif

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Malakin Posted 28 Dec 2008 , 9:29pm
post #6 of 25

I've got the same problem and mine didn't even come with instructions. I've been busy so I haven't had a chance to play with it yet.

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tinygoose Posted 28 Dec 2008 , 9:48pm
post #7 of 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by HipnotiqGlamour

Okay so I got what I was hoping for, for x-mas and that was a airbrush system.

SOOooOOo My question is for those of you who airbrush how in the heck did you figure out what your doing. What psi's should I be spraying at? How far away etc etc

Let me know how you learned please




I use:
18 psi is plenty to airbrush a cake, lower if you are doing little pieces that blow away

about 10-12 inches away for an overall spray, closer for lines etc.

airbrushing cakes is the opposite from shirts so layer your colors from light to dark, you get a better look with layers of color
(see my apple pic, thats 4 or 5 different colors from golds, greens, reds, in that order.

don't spray black fondant with luster or pearl dust it turns grayish.

get Americolor airbrush (Amerimist?) (not gel) in the little bottles, there is a place on ebay that sells all 41 mini bottles for about $40 bucks then just replace the ones you use all the time.

white is great but it tends to clog the airbrush, and you can't spray a color with white and expect it to be white, it will just dull/soften the color you had

make sure you clean your airbrush when you are done. you can use Windex instead of airbrush cleaner, it is basically the same. I use vodka to "rinse" the airbrush between colors.

mix vodka with colors to water them down so to speak
mix white airbrush color with paints to soften them
airbrush with water on fondant if you want a shiny look to your fondant
airbrush with vodka all over to get rid of cornstarch marks and give a more uniform appearance.

I keep plain paper near my airbrush so I can check colors as I'm mixing them
cover everything near the airbrush and behind it, the paint sort of goes everywhere, and it's a good idea to wear a mask, even though its just food color, you will end up with pink boogers for a week if you don't. Have fun, experiment, I love my airbrush!

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HipnotiqGlamour Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 1:24am
post #8 of 25

Wow thank you everyone and thank you very much Tinygoose.

trust me I need all the hints and tricks I can get

Thank you all and I look forward to posting some of my photos or airbrushed cakes soon!!!!!!

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katwomen1up Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 2:26am
post #9 of 25

Thanks Tinygoose, this will help me a lot too. icon_biggrin.gificon_biggrin.gif

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icer101 Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 2:46am
post #10 of 25

i taught myself, using frances kuypers books and video.. carol faxons books.. and roland winbecklers books... then i took some demos at ices convention... was proud that i could do a good a the person doing the demo... practice... practice.. practice.. these cake decorators have taught all over the world their way of airbrushing and at the conventions.hth

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bobwonderbuns Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 3:11am
post #11 of 25

Sheesh, I thought I had answered this question but the answer didn't appear! icon_confused.gif Anyway, go to www.howtoairbrush.com and they have some awesome instructions for beginners. There are a couple of airbrush DVDs out there (GSA has one) and Roland Winbeckler has an awesome book (and demo if you ever have a chance to see it.) Also as was already brought out get some coloring books and practice staying in the lines. If you stay at for an hour or two a day you should get the hang of it in about a week. Then practice, practice, practice! icon_biggrin.gif

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Tita9499 Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 3:21am
post #12 of 25

If you're going to airbrush a large surface, take it to another part of the house. I was a doofus and airbrushed a military ball cake (the blue one in my photos) in my kitchen instead of in my storage room because I was rushing (I had to get ready because I was also attending the ball). Needless to say the amount of airbrushing I had to do "contaminated" my entire house with a blue mist. My kids had blue snot, every horizontal surface in my house was covered with a blue dust and everyone kind of gave me this, "Thanks a lot!" look.

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tinygoose Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 3:41am
post #13 of 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tita9499

If you're going to airbrush a large surface, take it to another part of the house. I was a doofus and airbrushed a military ball cake (the blue one in my photos) in my kitchen instead of in my storage room because I was rushing (I had to get ready because I was also attending the ball). Needless to say the amount of airbrushing I had to do "contaminated" my entire house with a blue mist. My kids had blue snot, every horizontal surface in my house was covered with a blue dust and everyone kind of gave me this, "Thanks a lot!" look.




Yeah, I have a special counter space in my garage that is solely for airbrushing.

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Tita9499 Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 3:46am
post #14 of 25

That's what I get for being lazy and not wanting to walk the 3 yards to the storage room! I ended up cleaning the house for the rest of the weekend. That stuff got everywhere!

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tinygoose Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 3:50am
post #15 of 25
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tita9499

That's what I get for being lazy and not wanting to walk the 3 yards to the storage room! I ended up cleaning the house for the rest of the weekend. That stuff got everywhere!





Lol Tita, that funny, I did the same thing the first time I used my airbrush. I was so excited that I just whipped it out and started spraying, fortunatly it was only Lucks pearl color, so the kitchen just "shimmered" for a few days.

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Yomomma Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 4:11pm
post #16 of 25

Kool tips everyone! Although I'm still in the "throwing it out the window stage"!

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tiggy2 Posted 29 Dec 2008 , 5:03pm
post #17 of 25

Earlene has instructions on her web site to build a paint booth to contain most of the spray. I'm going to try it out as soon as I finish unpacking (we just moved).

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HipnotiqGlamour Posted 30 Dec 2008 , 10:47pm
post #18 of 25

tiggy2 is there anyway you can send me a link to the paint booth you were talking about. I cannot find it anywhere.

Thank you

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tiggy2 Posted 30 Dec 2008 , 10:56pm
post #19 of 25

Here's the link to the instructions http://www.earlenescakes.com/AirbrushCabInst.html

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HipnotiqGlamour Posted 30 Dec 2008 , 11:06pm
post #20 of 25

Wow that looks handy. Thanks twiggy2!!!

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Price Posted 31 Dec 2008 , 12:19am
post #21 of 25

I'd love to have an airbrush. I'm doing a guitar hero cake for my Grandson this weekend, and it would look so much more authentic if I could airbrush it. Oh, well. I guess I'll keep dreaming!

Has anyone tried this one?
http://www.intotheoven.com/p1593/Magic-Mist-AIR-973S-Airbrush-Kit/product_info.html

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alanahodgson Posted 31 Dec 2008 , 1:46am
post #22 of 25

I made a very rudimentary airbrush booth that folds up for easy storage. It was SO simple and it really cuts down, though does not totally eliminate the overspray. I just taped three pieces of foam core together (it was on sale at Michael's for a buck a sheet). I used packaging tape and left a small gap at the joint to form a hinge that will allow the boards to close up upon themselves for storage. Here's a picture. I could probably tape another board to the bottom of the center board to make a bottom, too.
LL
LL

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KatieKake Posted 31 Dec 2008 , 2:10am
post #23 of 25

If you use the air brush when your furnace is on, (if you have hot air) the air seems to get sucked into the furnace and then blown through the registers all through the house. Wait for the furnace to go off, I found it was much better. I made a air brush booth using plastic from the sewing dept at Walmart, and pvc pipe. Used velcro to attach the plastic to the pipe, that way I can take it down for storage. Works fine, I even put a top on so that the over spray really stayed in the booth area. I would attach a picture, but I lent it to my daughter, 200 miles away.

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HipnotiqGlamour Posted 31 Dec 2008 , 2:31am
post #24 of 25

I printed the picture out tiqqgy posted and im having my father in law build it for me haha.

Okay next question I just bought a big set of food airbrush colors it came with bottles the same size but it says Gel paste....Am i able to mix this with vokda or water to spray with for practice? If so whats the ratio?

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tiggy2 Posted 31 Dec 2008 , 2:32am
post #25 of 25

The paint booth on Earlenes site has a fan to carry the spray out so it doesn't go into the furnace.

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