20th October 2021

Tic is a member of the West Suffolk Woodturning club and she was joined by John Woods of Woodart Products who had a range of his products for sale for airbrushing and pyrography.

You can view her gallery below;

http://www.westsuffolkwoodturningclub.org/tic_challis.html

Tic previously demonstrated her amazing skill with pyrography and so this visit she concentrated on everything airbrush. Tic opened the session with a comprehensive walk through of types of airbrush and compressors and then showed the basic practice exercises to learn the fine control needed for delicate work. What was immediately obvious was that lower pressures and fine control of the paint flow was the secret as well as several light coats to ‘build up’ the effect.

Tic showed samples of her paintings all done with an airbrush and then moved on to the technique for getting sharp edges and shapes by the use of masks.

Tic uses a variety of masks from pre-cut card and plastic to anything else to give the right effect when sprayed around or through. Tic showed how to spray at an angle to avoid the air blast lifting the edge of the mask and some ideas for holding the mask in place using Blue Tack. Other masks can be made using Cricut paper or just plain card.

Tic is always on the lookout for pieces of net curtain with patterns that she can spray though and then demonstrated using all of these types of mask and ended with a piece of Halloween net curtain.

On the journey through the art of airbrushing Tic talked about paints, acrylic inks and the use of the colour wheel to get the best effects. The session was finished with the cleaning process and how to dismantle the airbrush. 

It was a really fascinating insight into what can be achieved with an airbrush and its application in the world of woodturning.

Our grateful thanks to Tic and John

Ted Higgs