Vinyl Prep Work 101

I had someone ask me recently what I do to my vinyl to get it ready for paints. They were having a problem with the paint not sticking and cracking off. I wrote up this mini 'prep work' tutorial for them and decided to share it with all of you.

1. Wash the vinyl off with either soap and water, 90% alcohol, or acetone (not the kind for nails but the kind for cars). Although only use acetone on western vinyl, if you ever paint a Kaiju toy it'll eat the vinyl. I prefer to use either alcohol or acetone for this step. What you're essentially doing is stripping away any residue oils from the vinyl that may be left from the casting process.

2. Lightly sand the vinyl with 1000 or higher grit sandpaper. Most of the time this kind of sandpaper is used for automotive stuff, it's a wet/dry kind. You don't always have to do this step though, since most of the time I have success after wiping it down with one of the aforementioned chemicals. What this process does it makes the surface slightly porous to help the paints adhere better to the vinyl.

3. If you want it to last, I would invest in a little higher grade of paint. You don't have to go all out, but I know cheap paints from Michael's, Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, etc... tend to chip and crack more. Although I know people use this stuff all the time, I don't know how much of a headache they deal with during the painting process. I have had success with using the cheaper paints as basecoats for larger pieces. I'll describe how to get the best results in the next step. I tend to use Citadel paints and I also like Golden paints a lot. Both can be costly but you can cut them down to make them go further and last longer.

4. Paint in thin layers and build the paints up. This is especially important for the basecoat, since this will be the what every other color builds off of. By doing it in thin layers you'll be able to let those layers dry and have a much better surface for the next layer to adhere to. As I mentioned above, you can cut your acrylic paints with either water or alcohol ( I tend to use 50% or 70% alcohol to cut paints with). This will help extend the life of your paints and make it easier to apply the thin layers I'm addressing.

5. After you do these easy steps the rest of your paints will have a solid base to build on. When you're finished painting, it's important to seal it with either a matte coat or gloss coat depending on what you're trying to achieve. Again, use small layers with 10-15 minute drying sessions when applying your sealant. This allows adequate time for the coats to set but not completely dry which will help avoid buildup and cloudiness.

If you have any questions, leave them in the comment area and I'll get back to you.