Anyone else practicing with air brush?

Im getting ready for holiday time, lots of friends wanting babies for their kids this christmas I'm working on 4 bb kits at once this weekend.
I'm trying out my air brush for the 1st time. My air brush came with 3 kinds of brushes, I first tried the Dual action brush fitting and had trouble getting the hang of pushing the button down and pulling it back at the same time I was getting way to much paint next I tried the single action brush tip for me it worked so much better all I had to do was push the top button down and was able to apply the paint in small puffs.
Because I didn't know how to mix the paint I figured I'd just go super thin. I used two brushes Flesh 06 to about three tablespoons thinner. I did notice as the jar was close to empty it sprayed out a gray lookig settlement color that I had to brush out from between the fingers of one of the arms.
I baked after each layer and got a nice even tone. Ready for veins and pouncing remaining layers. Anyone else practicing what's your results?

Are you using a gravity feed airbrush? I have a dual action gravity and I'm thinking of trying the single action to see if I like that better. Just not sure if I wanna try another gravity or the suction feed with the large cup :)

I'm using the suction feed small one on the right in pic. the one on the left in front of the box was the one I had trouble with. Sorry for BIG pic.

I have the gravity feed dual action and I rather like it. Just gotta get used to wrapping my thumb around the button on top to pull back but I don't have to push and pull, just hook my thumb and pull back.

I have been using mine quite a bit lately and LOVE it. I have a gravity fed gun and think the results are so great. You seem to get a very even coat every time. Just be sure that your vinyl is room temp when you are working with it. Hubby set me up with an nice spot in the garage to avoid any overspray onto the carpet (why he would think I would have that problem I have no clue. LOL) and it was a bit chilly out there the one day. It takes the paint forever to flash off and the paint has a tendency to run instead of sticking evenly.
But the Victoria I posted a couple of weeks ago I did the flesh with and now I am working on a bi-racial baby with it. And I really like the results I am getting on that one. I don't seem to have that dirty or spotty look going on with the airbrush.

Okay, I"ll reveal my secret. The vampling Tibby I did, I did the flesh layers with the air gun. She was just so darn big and I had to paint two babies so I had to find a short cut. I also then wanted to see how it would work with the ethnic and how dark I could get with it. Here's the result of that.



I probably could have gone darker and in some lighting she did look a lot darker. This kit began as the old BB pink vinyl.

Oh wow, Karen your babies coloring is beautiful. I do have a dual gravity fed also but haven't tried it yet, mine has the small cup attached on top and that top button that looks like I would need to push down and pull back & that's my problem, next time you have yours out maybe take a pic and send it my way.

michele's right I'm not getting that dirty look that I sometimes get with pouncing. I really like the way the airbrush gets into all the little creases so evenly.

I'm going to be using my airbrush to apply all the even tones from now on. I love it.

Lori

Your baby is beautiful!! When is the airbrush class and the info for it?

The air brush class starts January 1st, here is the link to Lara's website where you can find the information.
http://realreborn.net/classes.html

Thank you!!

I'm having problems with my compressor(the fan inside has broken and keeps coming loose although I've fixed several times) so I did a search on eBay and found a very nice and all new compressor with two siphon feed guns with accessories so I purchased it! I do love using the airbrush and stopped since mine was being a pain. Can't wait to get my new compressor and give the new guns a try, I do get so tired of constantly refilling the small cup on the gravity feed so hopefully the siphon will work well and save on the refilling!!

Just be sure to mix enough for your whole layer before you start. You don't want to get 1/2 way and have to try to match the color....

SOOO...I've been interested in this technique for a LOOONG time...and couldn't find ANY info on it.....so...do you just spray on the flesh layers and leave or do you still have to pounce???

Just how much CAN you do with the airbrush???

I'm wanting to make sure it would be worth the investment of the equipment and the class too.....

Are fleshtones all you can do....or can you blush with it also??

I know it's alot of questions....I'd also like to see some closeup pix of results if anyone has any!!!

Thanks to anyone who can answer my ba-zillion questions!!!!

I bought this airbrush kit for doing makeup about a year ago. And while I had fun using it and my foundation made my skin look flawless, it just became too much of a hassle applying airbrush foundation everyday (plus the airbrush foundation was expensive!). So it sat in my closet for a few months, then I read about the upcoming Full Body Airbrush Class. I've been meaning to dig it out and fool around with it to see if I could use it for the class. When I bought the kit it came with a regular gravity feed gun for the face makeup, and also a siphon feed gun for doing spray tan. I never had the urge to try spray tanning, so I decided I would use that gun for reborning. The cup on the gravity feed gun is just too small to use it for doing washes or flesh coats. Well yesterday I dug it all out and filled the siphon container with water. I sat under good lighting and sprayed the water onto a random kit from my bin o' kits (aka my stash of too many unpainted kits). By looking at the kit under good lighting I could see the water over the vinyl and it looked like a beautiful skin texture. You could almost see the little "pores". And it took like 2 minutes to do a layer on the entire kit! Yay for saving time! I sat there for the next hour while watching a tv show and kept applying layers. At one point my boyfriend asked me if I had gone mad since I was spending all of this time "painting" the kit with water, lol! Well I explained to him that I was just getting the hang of giving the kit a light coat of the water. If I kept my hand moving in quick circular patterns then I would get a nice coat. But if I went over an area too many times in the same session it would get too wet and some of the water would drip down. One thing I did notice is that the paint thinner is really going to get into the air. So when its time to actually paint the doll for the class, I'm going to do it in my laundry room with an old towel laid down on my work surface. And I'm going to wear gloves and one of those dust masks just to protect myself a bit more. Overall it seems like an excellent way to get a nice flesh layer or wash on the vinyl in a quick yet flawless way. And if there is a bit more paint usage, I think the time saved will sure make up for the extra cost! More time = more dolls, in the long run.

I hope you guys find my lengthy post helpful! I'm just happy I didn't need to go out and buy an airbrush kit. The LDC full body kits are expensive enough. I am so excited for this class, especially because I'll be taking the Ebony Skintone class afterward. I think it will be a breeze applying all of those flesh tone layers now that I can use the airbrush. I'm off to purchase my LDC kit for the airbrush class!

Roxy, I'm so glad you got it out and started playing with it. For those of you who do not have or cannot get an airbrush but still want to take the class, there will still be a lot of great information on all the layers. The only difference would be you would add your washes and flesh layers manually.

Roxy, thanks for sharing!!

I love the airbrush. No you don't pounce after. That would ruin the effect. Go real light and back and forth in even strokes. And you do need to mix up about 3x as much paint as you normally would. I also use 4 brushes per 1/2 Tbs instead of 1 or 2, so twice as much paint, as well.

You can do the neutralizing, skin tone, blushing, warming layers, soft undertoning, Pretty much everything but the details.

If you feel it went on uneven, or you see some in the creases or bwtween the toes, wait until the thinner flashes and then use just the tip of the sponge to smooth out the creases. Or use a fan brush, very gently.

The class will be great. Karen and I have been working on this and practicing for quite awhile now, and I think you all will reeally love using it. It's a big time saver!

Lara wrote:

I love the airbrush. No you don't pounce after. That would ruin the effect. Go real light and back and forth in even strokes. And you do need to mix up about 3x as much paint as you normally would. I also use 4 brushes per 1/2 Tbs instead of 1 or 2, so twice as much paint, as well.

You can do the neutralizing, skin tone, blushing, warming layers, soft undertoning, Pretty much everything but the details.

If you feel it went on uneven, or you see some in the creases or bwtween the toes, wait until the thinner flashes and then use just the tip of the sponge to smooth out the creases. Or use a fan brush, very gently.

The class will be great. Karen and I have been working on this and practicing for quite awhile now, and I think you all will reeally love using it. It's a big time saver!

Lara, what will be the skintone we are going for? More of an older baby? Or newborn? I know Henry and Victoria are about 3 month old sized, so I was just curious.