I bet you are an artist if you want to make this happen. I know that because I am one. In any case, we all are. Hidden in our untapped potential is a creative person that just wants to make art happen, and which is the better way to go than to spray paint it?
Spray painting focuses on details, perfection, and uniqueness in a special way. Spray painting is versatile and a quick fix for just about anything worn out or shabby and screams renewal.
It can give you the feeling of satisfaction right from shaking the bottle while hearing a jingly-ringing sound (called the mixing ball and it rattles) to press the button of a spray bottle that releases beautiful sprays of color, unlimited in its range.
Such is the power of spray painting.
I will pinpoint some deco ideas right here and let us see if we can be amateur interior designers. Do your walls look bleak? Yet you are inviting some friends over in a few days or so? Do you have old wine bottles just loitering around in your wine cellar?
You probably are a nature-lover and have some plants in your house; you can spray paint the holders. Even better, a do-it-yourself trick you can try on your scratched vehicle.
Spray painting is a trademark on murals, especially in ghettos, and defines a people. So whatever spray painting means to you, I am here to make your journey even more interesting as you experience immediate perfection, so giddy up.
At this point, it is harmless to wonder just how long it takes for spray paint to dry up.
Considering just how many different brands there are in the market, it is way advisable that you be fully equipped with the most basic knowledge of percentages of ingredients included in the manufacture of spray paint.
Spray paint, just like any other paint, is made with three basic ingredients which are solvent, binder, and pigment. To make the paint last, additives are added.
Additives do not exactly contribute to any color properties of paint; so much as they increase the already existing properties of paint like storage time, production qualities, and paint application.
The solvent is the medium in which the paint pigment is suspended. Not only does it carry the components it also maintains the consistency of paint as it gets sprayed from the can.
So if you ever experience unevenness of paint as you spray it, you know where to direct your fires. The solvent can be organic-based or water-based.
The binder is responsible for the hard film that remains when the solvent has evaporated.
Examples of binders include wax, gum Arabic, linseed oil, gums, gum tragacanth, methylcellulose or egg whites, and casein (both protein); note that linseed oil can be a thinner as well as a binder.
Then finally, is the pigment. These exist as solid particles that are basically the chief ingredients of paint. Pigment gives the paint its color and opacity.
It is what you mean when you refer to the spray paint as red, yellow, or blue. In art, pigment is referred to as the coloring matter of an object, and in our case, paint.
There will be lots of chemistry going on here, but trust me at the end of the day it will be worthy of your investment.
Spray a Thin Coating of Paint
To begin with is that you spray a thin coating of paint. Some may call it layer; it is okay whichever works for you. This concept is well appreciated in the cosmetics industry as well in applying nail polish, and it applies the golden rule of application.
The thinner your coat the quicker it dries. Spraying a thin coating allows it to dry faster because spray paint is basically oil paint in a can.
While watercolor and acrylic paint dries by evaporation, oil paints do not. Instead, they dry by what we call the siccative quality – that they absorb oxygen from the air.
Siccative in chemistry refers to substances added to a liquid in order to promote drying. It has its origin in Late Latin siccavitus, from Latin siccare meaning to dry up also from siccus dry.
Oils absorb oxygen from the air at different rates. They absorb oxygen and harden. If you sprayed a thick layer of paint, you will notice at this particular point that while the surface is hard, the oils underneath are still squishy.
That is definitely not the best quality of artwork; for to achieve perfection in art, you have to embrace the quality of blending of hues to achieve harmony.
You may have bought a thick brand of paint, do not be dismayed I have a quick fix for that. In the instance whereby you only need a thin coating of paint yet the paint itself is thick, we add thinners.
I will recommend but a few, Gamsol (the best), Shellsol, Low Odour Solvent, or Sansodor to thin oil paints.
The listed thinners above can not only work on oil paint but could also thin linseed oil as well as any other oil paint mediums that already had petroleum distillates for instance Alkyd mediums to mention but a few, Liquin and Galkyd.
Here are a few tips on how to get through this process. Shake the can and the mixing ball begins to rattle.
From a distance of 10-16″ from the surface you want to spray, spray back and forth overlapping each stroke. The best results are achieved when 2 light coats are sprayed and left to dry at intervals.
In the case where the valve clogs, wipe the excess paint outside of the nozzle, turn it upside down and spray it inside a box.
Keep your fan on
Secondly, is that at all times keep your fan on, Apart from the refreshing breeze you get as you get hands-on with some beautiful art, is the assurance that your work dries up faster.
This is owing to the fact that ventilation plays a very important role in quick-dry spray painting. Great air ventilation begins even before you start spray painting.
Open your windows and turn on your air conditioner or if you prefer combine the use of a box fan and the window for an added advantage.
Then once you finish painting keep the conditions constant and watch the paint dry.
This method does not exactly assure that your paint dries at lightning speed, but it sure as hell reduces the time you would have otherwise spent waiting for your end product.
Paint in a warm surrounding
Furthermore, you might want to paint in a warm surrounding. I do not know if you have noticed, but most people prefer to repaint their houses during the summer season.
Warm temperatures increase the likelihood of paint drying faster than cool temperatures.
Rely on an outdoor painting session under the sun with a slight breeze of wind or you can alternatively induce warm temperatures indoors by means of a hairdryer.
Apart from giving you a massive blow of wind, it can be used to provide the heat needed to quicken the drying process. Hover the dryer right before your canvas or mural.
This is advisable for small surfaces though and could be a tedious task if you plan to apply it to your entire house. Set the hairdryer to its lowest setting and keep moving it to apply heat as evenly as possible.
One major setback is if you set the temperatures too high settings, it will cause the painting to bubble or crack. Minimize or standardize the heat settings to get the best end product.
Scientifically, an increase in temperature causes molecules of the spray paint to increase their motion in the spray paint can.
They break loose from their structural formula and break free into the air in form of vapor, the hotter the paint the more likely it is to dry faster.
Paint in Low Humility
In addition to all that is that lower humidity increases the chances of paint drying faster.
When the humidity is high, the water vapor molecules are concentrated in the atmosphere as is the case in seas and oceans otherwise known as zones of low altitude.
High humidity levels refer to anything above 85%. Something you should avoid because when the humidity is too high, it will make it difficult for the sprayed paint to stick to the surface on which you are painting.
Lucky for you, we have a solution for you if you live in highly humid areas yet you have a passion for spray art. Get yourself a dehumidifier today and here is why. A dehumidifier draws warm air currents into its coils through a fan.
The coils are cool, and refrigerated cold thus the warm air contracts as it gets fed into the coils of the machine, and the condensed water is hence left in the dehumidifier.
This condensation collects, and as it does so, falls into a storage tank in drops of water. The storage tank is attached to the humidifier and allows for a gross collection of water.
The dry, cooler air is released back to your home through the other side of the dehumidifier machine.
Get this; the goal is to lower the humidity levels to a certain percentage. For our case, the moisture in the air should be lowered down to a relative humidity of between 30 to 50 percent.
Anything above that may not achieve the desired results for spray paint art which happens because the paint’s water content does not evaporate as easily in high humidity.
So most humidifiers come with a meter. The meter measures the relative humidity at the point of placement in your home; this means you can set the humidity to whatever percentage you desire.
You are now in control of natural oddities that seemed unbeatable.
Mixing Paint with Drying Mediums
Mix it with drying mediums like lead, cobalt, or turpentine that catalyze an otherwise slow and boring process.
Turpentine accelerates the drying time faster than any other thinner because it accelerates polymerization of the oil film by oxidizing – incorporating oxygen into the mix – paint layer from the inside out.
By Priming
As an artist, I bet you know what primer is. The white emulsion is applied on a surface before painting in order to make the painting durable. A primer is well designed to prepare bare metal, wood, canvas even plastic.
The plastic surface is a smooth one not to mention that it is a by-product of petroleum. It resists spray paint which is rust oleum thus to achieve the desired results, we have to work smarter.
Priming, or better yet painting white emulsion creates a matte effect that is absorbent. So can we make it work for spray painting too? Yes, we can. Acrylic paint is a fast-drying paint and we might just use it as our primer.
In the event that you want to paint a canvas, mural, or even a wine bottle, you can precede by painting the acrylic white emulsion as the first coating, allowing it to dry, then spray painting all the way.
The procedure is short and rewarding, all you need is to appreciate the drying property of acrylic paint and you are good to go. A fast-drying paint that ensures the true color of the spray paint.
Painting on flat surfaces
Painting on flat surfaces also goes a long way in making spray-painted art durable. This ensures that all spray paint particles reach the surface at the same time leading to evenness. Evenness makes the spray paint dry faster.
Choose a fast-drying spray paint
At some point, I think it’s best advised if you can avoid the hassle, avoid it. Start off by choosing a fast-drying spray paint.
Spray paint is an aqueous aerosol coating composition that includes a thermoplastic acrylic polymer solubilized in an aqueous solution of a monohydric alcohol. Let me break it down for you.
As I said before, spray paint could be water-based or organic solvent-based. Water-based spray paint is known as an aqueous solution and takes longer to dry as compared to one whose main solvent is organic.
This is because according to physics, organic solvents have higher evaporation rates than water. In a nutshell, if you are looking for fast-drying spray paint, go for the one with an organic solvent.
Dos and Don’ts
Avoid painting in direct sunlight and/or hot humid weather. Spray paint is highly flammable owing to the high vaporization of the organic solvents in its composition. In some cases, the paint may dry before even reaching the required surface.
You will be required to use way too much paint not only causing wastage but also creating a bigger mess in the end. If the paint dries before reaching the surface, it will cause lumps and unevenness on the surface which will eventually lead to peeling.
Some dehumidifiers might not work. A single humidifier might not work in a similar way for everyone. Since dehumidifiers are oriented toward making the air drier, it might not be advisable to use them in high-altitude areas.
On top of that is that people with conditions like pneumonia may not dwell too comfortably in the presence of a dehumidifier.
So is your skin or hair, or other persons suffering from eczema who are definitely prone to inflammation of the skin in a dry environment. Remember to always stay hydrated as you work on your spray art and more especially with your dehumidifier around.
Fast-drying spray paint may sound like a good idea. But just like all other good things, it has its potential side effects. The high vaporization rate of organic solvents makes them highly flammable.
It is not advisable to spray paint gadgets near heat sources that include your kitchen. Be careful, as you spray your automobile or if you go on a spray painting spree in your nearest petrol station next time.