Rainfly Painting

[packeagle]

I can say this if the main reason you want to do it is for reflectivity... I keep some 3m reflective strips in my pack, they were scavenged from a neon green/blaze orange workers vest that construction and road crew workers wear...

It is actually a fabric with that coating, why not strip that stuff into 1/2 inch strips and sew it onto the seam... I usually just hang a piece off one end of my tarp suspension and you can see it from several hundred yards in the day assuming you have line of sight...

I did this. Well kind of... I sewed a small piece to the ends of my snake skins, while not as cool as a full out reflective stencil it got the job done. I can no walk away from camp to water a tree and find my setup again.

[HURTHEART]

There was a video on this site (I think), that a fellow used RustOlium Flat Spray paint to paint his Tyvek tarp.

I wonder if you could uses something like the GE Silicone, thinned down with white gas or paint thinner, then there are pigments on Ebay that reflect light. You can use them on cement, on all kinds of surfaces that you want to reflect light. i bought some and mixed it with paint for my front porch steps. After 6 years it still does the job, my vision is rotten, however the steps stand out in the dark.

Depending on your design it might be interesting if the texture of the design changes as it ages. You should try what ever you use on a scrap piece of silnylong first. I would paint, then let it sit a couple of days on a stretcher bar. Then wash it, hot/cold crinkle it up, then put it back on the stretcher bar in the sun, see what you end up with. If you do not have sun, rig up a piece of single pane window glass so what sun you do have is intensified onto the silnylon, just be sure you do not start a fire.

Please tell me what you figured out. I am doing a tarp right now that we are going to paint. I like glow in the dark and reflective things, I just do them on a small basis. Now with my vision becoming so poor, I might do something much larger, I just do not want to be offensive to other hangers.

[stalker42]

I wonder if you couls use silk screening.

[HURTHEART]

I have been thinking about painting our DYI tarp, I am not sure if I will use Silnylon or ripstop. I wonder if a person put a very light coat of very thin silicone over the area you want to color, let it cure, then use fabric Dye instead of paint. Dye acts a little different than paint, paint sits on the top of the fabric, die goes into the fabric. Dye does not peel or chip. Getting the dye into the silnylon would probably not work, but it might adhere to the silacone primer.

I would contact Dharma Trading Company, they cater to crafters and artists. They have helped me with projects, they are honest and reasonable on their shipping prices.

[Lupus]

I've been thinking on how to do this myself. The conclusion I came to, was that you really had only 2 colors you could use. White and Black, because silicone caulk is sold in those colors and after thinning it with mineral spirits; you should be able to use that to 'paint' your stencil on.

I haven't tried it yet, but that's because I haven't made my silnylon tarp yet. That project is coming up once work slows down again and it gets a little closer to spring. If you try this, please let us know how well it works.

[reubenrn]

Interested as well, we'll keep an eye into this.

[Shewie]

I think you need to just sew something onto the tarp. Plenty of materials to choose from.

I think that's the way I'd approach it too, find some fabric that reflects (3M?) and then cut out and stitch on maybe?

[Yogi]

Look for Krylon Fusion spray paint made for plastic. Be sure to test on scraps first!

[swoody126]

I wonder if you couls use silk screening.

most good silk screen shops have ink that will adhere to virtually any fabric

take a BLACK ON WHITE drawing of any design your heart desires, to the shop

they will digitize it, size it & generate a screen

once that is done, they can screen your tarp, wherever you choose

just an old man's 2¢ worth

sw

[Sailor]

Sorta sounds like an all new highwater mark for tarps...not just waterproof, strong and lightweight...now we are talking the image, the mural, the art. I like it...!