Adding a design to a sail

[Seamus107]

The model I am currently building, the Golden Rule, has a peace symbol and the Veterans for Peace logo on its sails, as shown in the attached photo.  I have been researching methods of adding such images on sails, and am coming up with nothing useful.  I have seen sails on models that have letters and numbers, but none with designs or logos.  I have looked at creating decals, using custom iron-on transfers, etc., but none of these methods seem like they would work for white images on rust-colored sails.  Any suggestions from those who have done something like this would be appreciated.

 

james

Maine

[allanyed]

If you use silk span for the sails you can make a drawing of the symbols with any CAD program including something as simple as Paint so you can then print the symbols onto the sail material.   You will need to do a mirror image as well to have it show on both sides.  Silkspan is easy to pre-paint the red you show before doing the symbols. Print before cutting to shape.  If the sail is larger (8.5X11??) than what your own printer can handle it may be best to take the sails to a print shop along with a flash drive that has your drawing on it for them to do the printing.  There are a number of posts here at MSW on using silk span as well as super information in on sail making in a little booklet by David Antscherl available from SeaWatch books for $5.  Hopefully other members will have some alternate ideas that will be more helpful.

Allan

[Louie da fly]

Depending on how steady your hand is, you could hand-paint it. I used acrylic paint on a piece of (I think) cotton fabric, though mine was dark paint on light fabric - you might have to do more than one coat of paint if you did it this way, but it is a fairly simple design.

 

 

Steven

[thibaultron]

The printing of the design on a red painted sail will not work at home. No home printer can print white. I relies on the paper, or decal film being white. There used to be a printer that could do this, it used print ribbons with white being one of the ribbon colors. It has been a couple of decades, though, since they made the ribbons, so that option has gone away.

[Dr PR]

You can try printing the red/rust on the silkspan, leaving the white silkspan to show the symbols.

 

I haven't tried this. I would go to a local print shop and let the staff there decide if it would work.

[Bob Cleek]

I believe the current technology you would want to explore for this task (as would most modelers requiring scale lettering and symbols) is the Cricut Everything Maker. (https://cricut.com/en-us/cutting-machines/cricut-maker/everything-maker) Without getting ahead of my skis describing what this machine does, and it does a lot, I'll just say that it is a small CNC cutting machine which, among other things like fabric, leather, thin wood, and cardstock, can apparently cut frisket film to a high degree of accuracy and detail. (Frisket film, if you are not familiar with it, is a adhesive-backed plastic masking film used by artists to mask areas for airbrushing.  https://www.dickblick.com/categories/painting/airbrushing/frisket-film/) The Cricut machine connects with a home computer or smartphone and graphics can be fed from these into the machine. There are a wide range of mediums that can be used in the machine. In addition to frisket film, the machine will produce adhesive-backed transfers for hard surfaces or iron-on transfers (for fabric,) such as tee shirt printing. Beyond that, all I know is that Cricut Machines are all the rage with lady "crafters" these days.

 

My daughter is the district administrator for all the art and music programs for a local school district and happens to have a Cricut machine of her own. There are a range of Cricut Machines ranging in price from around $500 to $1,000. (Ouch!) You may want to find someone you know who has one and could either cut you some frisket masks or some iron-on transfers. All they'd need would be the artwork on a digital file. There is also at least one outfit that will make iron-on transfers for you for a couple of bucks a piece. See: https://ninjatransfers.com/?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Cricut&utm_term=cricut heat}&tw_source=bing&tw_adid=80058377713213}&tw_campaign=Cricut&msclkid=46a9d50453211902fe31b1edd7361892&utm_content=Ad group 1

 

As it happens, the Cricut Machine is a small-scale version of the larger machines which produce the same larger adhesive-backed lettering used by full-scale sailmakers for putting sail numbers and other printing on sails.

 

This machine appears to offer lots of promise for use by ship modelers, especially cardstock modelers! (With apologies to everyones' pocketbooks, my motto: "He who dies with the most tools wins!")

 

YouTube is full of Cricut Machine videos. For an overview:

 

 

 

See also:

 

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[allanyed]

6 hours ago, thibaultron said:

No home printer can print white.

You are of course right Ron.   What I do to get a light color on a dark background is use light grey or thistle in TCW.   Not a pure white for sure, but maybe an option.

Allan

[allanyed]

5 hours ago, Dr PR said:

you can try printing the red/rust on the silkspan, leaving the white silkspan to show the symbols.

The really may be worth a try as the ink will bleed through giving a mirror image.   LOTS of ink going to be used though and it might require a double pass which is what I have done on flags on silk span.   

[allanyed]

8 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

Depending on how steady your hand is, you could hand-paint it.

Steven

Those sails are gorgeous

Allan

[Louie da fly]

Thanks, mate. A lot of work and very fiddly, but worth it.

 

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

 

Steven

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

12 hours ago, Louie da fly said:

Depending on how steady your hand is, you could hand-paint it. I used acrylic paint on a piece of (I think) cotton fabric, though mine was dark paint on light fabric - you might have to do more than one coat of paint if you did it this way, but it is a fairly simple design.

 

 

Steven

 

   Steven,  Your Great Harry (in my opinion) ranks as one of most interesting builds on MSW - a fine job at a difficult scale (although there are some tiny marvels done by those with an 'elite' level of skill I can only dream about).  My Henry project is on hold while I learn rigging skills on the Gorch Fock 1 restoration, but I intend to post drawings of the frame pieces on gridded stock for anyone wanting a 'starting point' to do  GH.

[Roger Pellett]

Here is a scheme that I used to make flags printed  in rice paper.  It might work for you.

 

You will need:

An airbrush

A Shop vacuum or similar vacuum with hose

A piece of frosted Mylar drafting film

A homemade vacuum box and frame (photos below).

Paint- the color of your sail

Silkspan

 

Draw the patterns on the Mylar and cut out the designs.

 

Tape the silkspan to the frame, mist with water and let dry over night.  Silkspan should be drum tight.

 

Place the frame with silkspan on top of the vacuum box, and turn on the vacuum. The vacuum should suck the patterns tight against the silkspan.

 

Spray with paint the color of your sail with the vacuum running.

 

If done properly the lines between the symbols and the sail will be crisp but as Allan says the paint will bleed through the silkspan.  You can overcome this by painting two mainsail images and laminating the result.

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Roger Pellett

[wefalck]

It all depends on the technology one has access to. These days I perhaps would cut myself a stencil with my small laser-cutter and use it for spray-painting.

 

A completely different approach could be to have a professional making a printing screen (serigraphy) for you. Could be expensive for a one of.

 

[Roger Pellett]

OR-  Display the model with the sails furled!🤣🤣

[Glen McGuire]

On 8/25/2023 at 8:59 PM, Louie da fly said:

Depending on how steady your hand is, you could hand-paint it. I used acrylic paint on a piece of (I think) cotton fabric,

I'm with Steven on this.  I am no great artist and would likely find a new hobby before attempting something as intricate as what he did with his incredible restoration project, but I did manage to hand paint a reasonable design with small lettering on my tiny Roman quinquereme sail (muslin fabric).

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by Glen McGuire