Brian’s Bench
I’ve had more than one person watch me paint camouflage and tell me I’m doing it backwards.
They’re right.
At least compared to how a lot of people do it.
Most painters build their pattern one way.
I build mine another.
Over time I found myself using almost exclusively male stencils instead of female stencils.
If you’re not familiar with the terms, a male stencil covers what you’ve already painted. A female stencil leaves an opening where the next color goes.
On flat signs or panels, either one works fine.
Firearms aren’t flat.
You’ve got curves, corners, slots, rails, and contours everywhere.
Male stencils conform to those shapes much better.
Once I committed to that process, the order of everything changed.
Now I build colors in reverse.
It sounds confusing until you’ve done it a few hundred times.
Then it just makes sense.
Another thing I started doing was labeling every stencil by both color and order.
That might sound like overkill.
Until you’re halfway through a complicated pattern with twenty stencils laying on the bench.
Trust me.
A little organization beats a good memory every single time.
Could I paint without doing all that?
Sure.
Would the results be as consistent?
Probably not.
That’s one thing I’ve learned after years behind a spray gun.
The goal isn’t to remember every step.
The goal is to build a process so you don’t have to.
Your brain is free to focus on the finish instead of wondering which stencil comes next.
The funny part is that customers usually compliment the colors.
What they’re really seeing is the process.
Shop Notes
- Label everything.
- Build repeatable systems.
- Let the process do the remembering.
What I Learned
A good paint job starts long before the first color is sprayed.
