Thread: Who wants to follow along w/ my flame job?

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Dave, I always thought of scallops as the original custom paint job....and an extension of the way artists of the '40s & '50s used "speed lines" to suggest fast motion.

I do feel, that they might not have been the original style, but the long life, and undying popularity of flames has earned them the title of "the classic custom paint job" of this hobby.

After 35 years, flames have always been about 50% of my work. Today, even though I am focusing on illustration, and unique themes, rarely are less than half of my requests for flames. Right now I have 4 small jobs in process. One is muraled...one is egyptian art....and (you guessed it) Two are flames. After I get those done, I have another flamed '32 scheduled.

If I had to do all of the flame jobs just alike, I'd look for a new job, and do just the interesting stuff. :-(

I don't know, gotta wonder which was first.... I suppose some pinstriping probably started the whole thing???? I still like the right car, two tone paint or one color with a complimenting or offsetting accent color, and the whole thing very understated. The old "less is more" thing....

PS....I do have to admit though----once upon a time a had a Cutlas that was black with lace---in lacquer---but it doesn't really count cuz I was young and still did a lot of drugs.....

Dave You are absolutely right about the striping being earliest, because it was widely used on manufactured cars and buggies, at the beginning of the last century.

I just think of the brush arts as being a seperate thing from sprayed art, which is what I think of as "custom paint"....though they do go hand-in-hand.

I also have a strong belief about following the styling of the bodywork, which is exactly what two tones usually do. I think we are on the same page.

Originally Posted by GulfCoastGasser

I love this job.

I once saw a flame job using "happy faces" in San Antonio and have been looking for it ever since. Flame jobs that push the box are incredible!

Thanks. I'm very pleased with how this set came out.

Steve, I really like the way you have thinned out the licks on your flames. IMO it makes your roadster stand out more. This effect of the flames really makes the flames flow as if the roadster was really rolling down the highway at a high rate of speed on fire. LOOKS SWEET!

Dennis showed up today but are a day behind. They had to finish a bike on Friday & Saturday so we won't see a test panel until sometime tomorrow.
However, they started the masking process. Seems like there should be an easier way but ???


They start the process w/ green tape right along the edge of the fine line tape & go from there.




You can start seeing the flames materialize on my car. Note: they took the hood home as it needs to be done on both sides!




More tomorrow.......

There are several ways to mask...each having their advantages and disadvantages. After 35 years of experimenting, that is the method I use, also.

This is a series of pics when they painted the trailer. I didn't realize there were so many steps in laying flames. I was limited to posting five pictures here but there were at least 3 more color steps involved in the process. The labor intensity is nuts, no wonder it cost so much to have done.
John

All of the custom painting procedures are labor intensive. I gave up a lot of security and income to be in this biz, but some things, like happiness are worth more than $$! :-)

I have tons of more respect for painters now that I have had a taste of what it takes to do this sort of thing. I helped with this and it seemed like it toof forever...LOL! In the second picture, for my current set of flames, they were done differently.

Ok, couple of day delay. Dennis got stuck striping a Bonneville streamliner.
Back to my car.
This sequence is a black test panel made of acrylic- 24x36.
All I can say is amazing!
To save time- he shot the clear w/ a rattle can of Krylon (test panel only).
Panel lacks pin stripes.
They are sanding the car now & will shoot the car tomorrow or Sat.

Those look great. Do you get to keep the test panel? That would be something neat to hang in your garage or something.

Yes- I keep the panel. I'll either have him sign it & hang in garage or add text for a show board.

Loooks great steve. Fun to watch it unfold!