Popular Science Monthly
��so as to wipe off the excess color. In doing this you will notice just when there is enough color in the brush to make a stripe of even density. If the brush is too full, the stripe will thicken and spread at the edges.
Take the brush between the thumb and forefinger, with the thumb uppermost. Now place the point of the brush on the exact spot where your stripe starts, and with the fingers resting lightly against some convenient parallel surface, draw the hand backward with a quick easy move- ment, to produce the stripe. The fingers act as a gage and a movable rest. Don't make the stripe in short, jerky sections, or it will look patchy. Make it in one, quick, uniform stroke.
If there were no curves to be turned, the amateur striper might do a passable job with a fine sable, or camel's hair brush and a straight edge, having a padded projection at each end of the straight edge to raise it off the surface of the car. But since the curves on an auto are numerous the striping had best be omitted, since faulty work will surely take all the shine off an otherwise well finished piece of painting.
Lettering
Put on the initial letters about ]/$, in. high, with the same tube color you have used in striping; or you can vary the color if you wish the letters to contrast more or less. The small-sized letters, like the J^-in. size, seem to be much preferred to those of greater height.
Outlines of letters, or monograms may be transferred to the surface as follows:
After having drawn or traced the letters, or monogram, on a clean sheet of paper, in the precise shape you wish them to appear on the door or panel, rub the reverse side of the sheet with a piece of chalk, dusting off the excess chalk. Place the paper on the
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proper spot and holding it firmly, go over the lines of the letters, or monogram with a pencil point, or a pointed piece of wood. Upon removing the paper, the letters will be seen in white chalk lines wherever your pencil point has pressed upon the paper.
Before transferring the letters, cut the paper to a convenient size so that it can be handled easily. Also draw two lines at right angles upon it for the purpose of centering on a chalk dot you have placed on the door, or panel. Be sure you have gone carefully over all the lines of the letters before removing the paper. By holding the paper firmly in position, you can turn up the edges and see whether you have missed a line or a letter. Do not bother about cleaning off any chalk-marks until the letters are dry. These marks can be easily sponged off before varnishing.
If you cannot turn neat curves in letter- ing, do not attempt letters of the curved type. Rule the letters up as though you were forming them with a pen and ruler. If you happen to draw an incorrect line either in striping or lettering, wipe it out quickly with a lump of absorbent cotton slightly damped with turpentine. Dry with a clean piece of cotton, and be more painstaking in replacing the line or letter correctly.
If the line be difficult to erase because of its being close to other lines, do not use the lump of cotton, for fear of blurring or smudging the correct lines. Take a piece of soft pine the length and thickness of a lead pencil. Whittle both its ends into pencil-like points, nicking them on their sides so as to raise a little of the wood. These nicks will prevent the cotton from slipping off. Wrap a clean piece of cotton around each end, forming each piece into a blunt, pencil-like point. Use one end of this eraser, dampened with turpentine for removing faulty lines or spots. Use the
��1
��RE5T FOR LETTERING
��type of curve- less LETTER
���CORK OR WOOD CLOTH OR CHAMOIS
��PI o
��u. o. u
��NICKED END COTTON WRAPPING^""
��A straight edge with padded ends is used for guiding the striping brush. Forms of a curveless letter for initials and erasers are made of nicked sticks and cotton covered ends
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