Measuring HOK Pearl to shoot-> How much do you use?

[56_Kruiser]

Have done a couple test panels, one shooting with a lot of pearl, and another quite light.

As I expect, shooting with too much in the mix, it is hard to get it even, and with too little, it'll take too many coats.

Naturally, I can do more tests, but I'm curious if anyone measures the pearl they add to the intercoat clear, and then getting fairly consistent results, knowing how many coats, in general, you'd need to get what you want. I'm hoping to hear a general 'starting formula', ie. 1/8 tsp per 16oz mixed paint, or something like that.

I have some HOK Gold pearl I shot on my 56 years ago (will be using that again), and am happy with it. But it's been so long I don't remember how much I added or how many coats it took to achieve what I wanted.

 

[TAZ]

What base and what pearl are you using again....I don't remember?

 

[56_Kruiser]

What base and what pearl are you using again....I don't remember?

It's going to be two tone. Similar to this:



Instead of a yellow bottom, I'm using cream. The cream color I'm using will be PPG Ivory, same as is on this car (which has gold pearl I want to more or less duplicate):



That cream with the pearl shows a nice gold sheen in the sun.

The orange I'm going to use is HOK:

Base S2-01 Base, with FX31.

I'd like to attain the a similar gold sheen as in the picture.

I actually have a couple pearls I plan to use. The main one, which provides the sheen and I'm not sure how much to use, is DR03 Gold Sparkle. I don't know if they still have it. I've had it a long time.

To that I"m going to add just a very little Ice Pearls, IP01 Ice Gold. It's adding some real sparkle...but I don't like a lot of that. It's a compromise from what I want and can't find any more...ground glass. Back in the 70's I had some ground up glass, quite fine particles, which would not show up except when the sun hits, and then it sparkled like a diamond. Walking past the car a sparkle would jump out at you just every so often. I would put a very small amount in. I Just don't like overdoing the sparkle thing. Don't like flake paint jobs.

So, the amount I'm trying to figure out is the DR03 Gold Sparkle, and plan to shoot it over both colors.

 

[TAZ]

That car looks nice. I'm not for sure how you would end up with an orange color when you start with a gold base and then put gold sparkles over it

The orange I'm going to use is HOK:

Base S2-01 Base, with FX31.

The orange in the picture looks like candy tangerine over possibly a gold base.

Instead of using the ground up glass, there are quite a few pearls that give that same effect. They are very small, but out in the sun, they have a super sparkle to them.
A LOT of the Harley-Davidson bikes use it. I just did one in Daytona Blue ($400 in just the base and pearl). Most of the 'Sunglo' candy colors use them along with some of their other colors (Big Blue Pearl, Midnight Pearl....). You can look at pictures of Harleys online, but you can't get the idea of the sparkle.
I just sprayed a C6 Corvette in Atomic Orange and it also has these specialized pearls. When the sun hits it right, you can see the sparkles in the orange (not like a typical metallic or pearl). By the way, Atomic Orange is also a beautiful orange.

 

[56_Kruiser]

TAZ...the base comes 1/12 pint short, and the FX31 is added to it, and the results are an orange pearl like paint.

The Ice Pearl I'm using from HOK does a nice sparkle, albleit somewhat different looking than the glass. But that's what I"m using for now.

Back to my original question: when you are mixing pearl in an intercoat clear to spray, how much pearl do you add to a mix of the clear do you typically use? Again, of course, the goal is to have enough to attain a nice pearl job without having to use too many coats, and not have so much that it's difficult to spray without having it spray on unevenly (or mottled...not sure how to describe it).

 

[TAZ]

Normally I add about 10-20% pearl to interclear weather it's straight pearl or flakes.
BUT this is as long as the pearl is 'straight'. Some pearls may be more potent than others. That would be a good start.
This also depends on how you spray. Some painters will put the base on dryer than others.

Be sure and do some test panels before doing the actual paint job.

 

[56_Kruiser]

Normally I add about 10-20% pearl to interclear weather it's straight pearl or flakes...

I presume you are using a liquid pearl of some type. I'm using powder, wo would measure differently that a %, I believe.

I'll do some experimentation.

 

[TAZ]

Yes, I am using liquid, the flakes are not though.
I would still think about 10% though.

Let us know how the test panels go.

 

[Streetwerkz]

for powders its usually a good idea to start at 1%-2% by weight, very seldom do we add more than 2%
But I have done 5% a few times

 

[TAZ]

Come to think of it, I remember back in the day when I was using toner systems and some of the pearls were in power form, yes, it was a very limited amount for like the white pearls. It was very little pearl and the rest just a clear binder.

 

[Streetwerkz]

Yeah, with the dry pearls a little goes a long way, before we got our high dollar scale we used a $40 2000g scale from JEGS which werked like a charm, and helps with repeatably cheaply.

 

[chopolds]

With the FLip flop, or interference pearls, I always shoot test panel. I start with 1/8 tsp. in a mixed quart of clear. Then add more pearl or clear as required. Or adjust the amount of coats put on. Remember, a darker color will need a LOT less pearl over it to show up, than a light color. So you really do have to tailor the topcoat to the color under it.