Stupid Wetsuit Tricks - airbrushing a wetsuit

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TheNitroxinator

Contributor
Messages
147
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Location
Ventura County, CA
# of dives
500 - 999
I looked all over the place on the internet, and never found anything on the subject of airbrushing a wetsuit. Since SCUBA and airbrushing are two of my hobbies, I wanted to see if I could bring them together. Its obvious you can silk screen a wetsuit (they all come with brand names silk screened on them), but setting up everything for multi-colored graphics is a pain. I figured airbrushing would work, I just needed to find a way to set the paint (heat setting being no good, I believe you'll melt your suit if you follow the Createx T-Shirt acrylic instructions).


I wound up using SAFE-T from Coast Airbrush, and painted on a .5 mm suit. Its been in the water, I let it sit around without cleaning it for half a day, and then hosed it off. My graphics stayed on, and they're not distorted because I painted on the suit while it was stretched (I stuck it full of towels). Now I just need to put together something cool for the front, instead of a goof-around test picture on the thigh (I did a picture of a shark sucker that I saw in Lembeh).


Mind you, I'm not a professional airbrusher, and I have no interest in painting anybody else's wetsuit. But, if you're interested in painting your or someone else's wetsuit, I can give you a more detailed description if you're interested.
 
wow... that remora sure looks real... good job
 
Looks great. You sure you don't want to paint other suits? May be able to make a living out of it like the folks that paint bikes.
 
I'd like to have some little crabs painted in the crotch of my wet suit.
 
The Kracken:
I'd like to have some little crabs painted in the crotch of my wet suit.
:rofl:
 
that remorra would actually make a great scuba related tattoo. I am not one that has been inked, but that would be the kind of thing I would go for.
 
Aloha Nitroxinator, wow this is good stuff. Yes, I do want more information, as I can imagine a few projects to use this on.
Thanks Turtleguy
 
I'd like to have some little crabs painted in the crotch of my wet suit.

Hmmm, that could be tough, the T-Shirt airbrushes typically have a .5mm nozzle. Now, if you wanted a big crab getting a hold of a particular hose...

Aloha Nitroxinator, wow this is good stuff. Yes, I do want more information, as I can imagine a few projects to use this on.

I'll write something up and hopefully get it posted this morning. I'm waiting on a dumpster so I can clear my patio. That'll give me room so I can paint something on the front of my wetsuit, I'm figuring on an octopus bursting out of the chest cavity ala alien.
 
Great job! I can't wait to see where you go with this.

I'll echo the sentiment that this could be a nice little niche side business...
 

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